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THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 


yi29   11 


h 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NXW  YOKK  •   BOSTON  •   CHICAGO   •  DALLAS 
ATLANTA   •   SAN  FKANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LnoTED 

LONDON   •  BOMBAY   •  CALCUTTA 
UZLBOORNE 

THE  MACMttLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


THE  DEVELOPMENT 
OF  JAPAN 


BY 

KENNETH  SCOTT  LATOURETTE 

PROFESSOR  OF  HISTORY  IN  DENISON  imiVERSITV 


PUBLISHED  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF 
THE  JAPAN  SOCIETY 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1918 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1918, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  June,  1918. 


The  author  wishes  to  express  his  grateful  obligation  to 
Professor  K.  Asakawa  of  Yale  University,  to  Professor  Pay- 
son  J.  Treat  of  Leland  Stanford  Jr.  University,  to  the  Rev- 
erend Sidney  L.  Gulick,  D.  D.,  and  to  Professor  Roger  P. 
McCutcheon  of  Denison  University.  Each  of  these  read 
the  manuscript  and  made  kindly  and  helpful  suggestions. 
To  their  friendly  criticism  is  due  much  of  whatever  value 
this  book  may  have. 

The  author  also  desires  to  record  his  gratitude  to  the 
Japan  Society  for  its  generous  courtesy  in  suggesting  that 
the  book  be  brought  out  under  its  auspices.  The  author 
wishes  to  add,  entirely  at  his  own  instance,  that  the  Society 
is  in  no  respects  to  be  held  responsible  for  any  views  ex- 
pressed in  the  book.  The  manuscript  was  prepared  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  the  Society  and  imtil  completed  had 
not  come  under  the  eyes  of  the  latter's  oflEicers.  No  changes 
were  asked  for  by  the  Society — the  author  assumes  full 
responsibility  for  all  facts  stated  and  opinions  expressed. 


^ 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction xi 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Geographic  Setting  of  Japan i 

n.  From  the  EarUest  Times  to  the  Introduction  of  Buddhism     9 
m.  From  the  Introduction  of  Buddhism  (A.  D.  552)  to  the  Or- 
ganization of  the  Shogvmate  (A.  D.  1192) 21 

rV.  The  Shogimate:  From  its  Foimdation  (1192)  to  the  Acces- 
sion of  lyeyasu  (1603) 48 

V.  The  Shogunate:  From  the  Accession  of  lyeyasu  (1603)  to 

the  Coming  of  Perry  (1853) 67 

VI.  The  Civilization  of  the  Old  Japan 80^-^ 

VII.  The  Period  of  Internal  Transformation  (1853-1894) 

1.  From  the  Coming  of  the  Foreigner  to  the  Restoration 

of  the  Emperor  (1853-1867) 104 

Vm.  The  Period  of  Internal  Transformation  (1853-1894). 

2.  The  Reorganization  of  the  Government:  From  the 
Restoration  of  the  Emperor  to  the  War  with  China 
(1868-1894) 116 

IX.  The  Period  of  Internal  Transformation  (1853-1894). 

3.  Foreign  Affairs:  Economic,  Educational  and  Religious 
Changes :  From  the  Restoration  to  the  War  with  China 
(1868-1894) 148/'" 

X.  1894  to  1917:  Japan  Takes  Her  Place  Among  the  Powers 
of  the  World. 

1.  The  War  with  China,  the  Boxer  Uprising,  and  the 
War  with  Russia  (1894-1905) 164 

XI.  1894  to  191 7:  Japan  Takes  Her  Place  Among  the  Powers 
of  the  World. 

2.  From  the  Treaty  of  Portsmouth  (1905)  to  1917 180 

Xn.  The  Internal  Development  of  Japan  from  the  War  with 

China  to  the  Present  (1894-1917) 210 

BiBUOGRAPHY 22$ 

Index 231 

vii 


INTRODUCTION 

Of  all  the  unexpected  and  startling  developments  of  the 
remarkable  century  through  which  we  have  just  passed 
none  has  been  more  notable  than  the  transformation  of 
Japan.  A  hundred  years  ago  she  was  an  obscure  Asiatic 
kingdom,  by  her  own  volition  tightly  closed  from  the 
world.  Then  the  West,  spurred  on  by  the  new  ambitions 
and  equipped  with  the  new  commercial  and  military  appli- 
ances of  the  industrial  revolution,  forced  itself  upon  her. 
After  a  few  years  of  hesitation  she  heartily  accepted  the 
new  situation  and  by  a  series  of  rapid  transformations  ad- 
justed herself  to  it  and  is  now  a  factor  to  be  reckoned  with 
in  the  trade  and  politics  of  the  world.  She  has  become  the 
dominant  figure  in  the  Far  East  and  has  established  and 
maintained  her  hegemony  by  successful  wars  against 
China,  Russia,  and  Germany.  She  is  the  formal  ally  of 
Great  Britain  and  an  important  member  of  the  entente 
group  of  nations.  Her  ships  carry  a  large  share  of  the 
freight  and  passengers  of  the  North  Pacific  and  are  to  be 
found  in  all  the  ports  of  the  globe.  She  is  feared  and 
courted  by  most  of  the  great  powers  of  the  earth. 

From  the  beginning  of  her  metamorphosis  her  relations 
with  the  United  States  have  been  intimate.  For  the  first 
decades  unquestioned  friendliness  marked  the  intercourse 
of  the  two  peoples.  During  the  past  few  years,  however, 
there  has  been  a  growing  mutual  suspicion.  America's 
advance  across  the  Pacific  to  Hawaii  and  the  Philippines, 
her  interests  in  China,  her  unwillingness  to  admit  Japanese 
to  her  shores  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  nationals  of  other 
treaty  powers,  and  her  emphasis  on  the  Monroe  doctrine  in 


X  INTRODUCTION 

opposition  to  Japan's  commercial  ambitions  in  Latin 
America,  have  aroused  in  the  Sunrise  Kingdom  questionings 
and  resentments.  Japan's  policies  in  Asia,  especially  in 
China,  her  growing  naval  and  commercial  power  on  the 
Pacific,  her  insistence  on  the  rights  of  her  subjects  in  the 
United  States,  and  Japanese  migration  to  and  business 
enterprises  in  Latin  America  have  similarly  awakened 
apprehensions  in  the  great  republic.  Talk  of  war  has  been 
rife  and  many  have  feared  that  the  two  nations  are  some- 
time to  come  into  armed  conflict.  Some  have  felt  that  a 
clash  cannot  long  be  delayed.  War  seems  needless  and 
stupid,  but  if  it  is  to  be  avoided  Japan  must  be  better 
imderstood  by  Americans.  Her  people,  her  institutions, 
her  needs,  and  her  ambitions  must  be  studied.  The  citizens 
of  the  United  States  must  not  be  allowed  to  grow  up 
with  distorted  impressions  of  their  Pacific  neighbor.  If  in 
our  continually  closer  touch  with  her  we  are  not  to  blunder, 
if  we  are  to  make  our  relations  of  the  best  advantage  to 
both  nations,  we  must  have  sufficient  knowledge  to  form 
the  basis  of  a  sane  public  opinion. 

Such  knowledge  can  best  be  acquired  by  an  historical 
survey,  one  which  will  trace  the  development  of  the  Japa- 
nese people  and  civilization  from  their  beginnings,  and  in 
the  light  of  this  development  endeavor  to  make  clear  the 
present  ambitions  and  problems  of  the  nation.  The  Japan 
of  to-day  is  the  product  of  centuries  of  growth.  The  advent 
of  Western  civilizarion  sixty  years  ago  did  not  cause  a  com- 
plete break  with  the  past.  It  has  modified  profoundly  the 
inheritance  bequeathed  by  that  past,  but  the  old  Japan 
must  be  studied  if  the  new  is  to  be  understood. 

It  is  encouraging  that  courses  which  deal  with  Japan  are 
apjjearing  in  our  college  catalogues.  In  the  congested  state 
of  our  curricula  she  is  usually  covered  only  in  a  general,  one 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

semester  survey  of  the  entire  Far  East.  This  is  probably 
the  most  that  can  be  expected  in  all  but  a  few  universities, 
and  if  rightly  conducted  such  a  course  can  furnish  a  very 
fair  general  knowledge  of  the  great  lands  of  eastern  Asia. 
There  is,  however,  a  real  dearth  of  texts  suitable  in  length 
and  scope  for  such  a  course.  The  author  knows  of  no  book 
which  can  be  used  with  any  degree  of  satisfaction  and  he  has 
canvassed  the  field  fairly  thoroughly  during  the  past  few 
years  in  search  of  material  for  his  own  teaching.  This  little 
volimie  seeks  to  fill  the  gap  until  something  better  shall 
appear.  No  exhaustive  study  of  Japan  has  been  attempted, 
but  the  effort  has  been  made  to  present  a  summary  of  the 
development  of  the  nation,  its  people,  its  civilization,  and  its 
problems  and  policies,  which  will  give  the  essential  facts 
and  at  the  same  time  be  of  sufficient  brevity  to  be  covered 
in  the  six  weeks  usually  assigned  to  Japan  in  the  average 
course  on  the  Far  East.  It  may  be  that  the  book  will  prove 
of  value  as  well  to  informal  study  groups  and  correspond- 
ence courses,  and  to  the  general  reader  who  wishes  a  brief 
survey  for  his  own  information. 

The  plan,  as  may  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  table  of  con- 
tents, has  been  to  give  an  introductory  chapter  on  the 
geographic  setting,  followed  by  a  succinct  narrative  of  the 
nation's  history  to  the  time  of  Commodore  Perry  and  a 
summary  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  its  civilization  at  the 
inception  of  intimate  contact  with  the  West.  Then  comes 
a  somewhat  more  detailed  account  of  the  transformation 
wrought  by  that  contact  and  of  the  progress  and  problems 
of  the  new  Japan.  A  carefully  selected  bibliography  has 
been  added  for  the  use  of  those  who  may  wish  to  pursue  the 
study  in  greater  detail.  K  the  volume  helps  at  all  to  a 
better,  more  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  island  em- 
pire its  purpose  will  have  been  amply  fulfilled. 


\ 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 


' 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Geographic  Setting  of  Japan 

Japan  occupies  the  greater  part  of  the  chain  of  islands 
which  fringes  the  coast  of  Asia  from  Kamchatka  to  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  Malay  Peninsula.  Her  posses- 
sions reach  from  the  northernmost  of  the  Kurile  islands,  just 
south  of  Kamchatka,  to  the  southern  cape  of  Formosa,^ 
a  distance  of  about  twenty-five  hundred  miles  and  nearly 
thirty  degrees  of  latitude.  The  islands  held  by  her  number 
over  three  thousand  and  have  a  total  area  of  173,786  square 
miles,  or  a  little  more  than  that  of  the  state  of  California, 
and  about  fifty  per  cent  more  than  that  of  the  British  Isles. 
Most  of  the  islands  are  very  small  and  only  about  six  hun- 
dred are  inhabited.  The  six  principal  ones,  enumerating 
them  in  their  order  from  north  to  south,  are  Sakhalin,  Yezo, 
the  Main  Island,  Shikoku,  Kiushiu  and  Formosa.  Sakhalin 
is  called  Karafuto  by  the  Japanese.  Only  the  southern 
half  of  the  island  belongs  to  them  and  it  is  important 
chiefly  for  its  fisheries.  Yezo,  or  Hokkaido,  as  it  is  com- 
monly known  in  Japan,  was  until  recently  inhabited  chiefly 
by  the  Ainu,  an  aboriginal  people.  It  is  to-day  being  rap- 
idly developed  and  settled  by  the  Japanese.  The  Main 
Island,  called  in  the  native  tongue  Hondo  or  Honshiu,  alone 
comprises  over  half  the  entire  area  of  the  insular  part  of  the 
empire.  On  it  from  the  earliest  historic  times  has  been  the 
center  of  government.     Shikoku,  "The  Four  Provinces," 

^  Called  Taiwan  by  the  Japanese. 


2  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

derives  its  name  from  an  ancient  administrative  division 
of  the  island,  and  forms  part  of  the  southern  border  of  the 
Inland  Sea,  famous  for  the  beauties  of  its  waters,  islands, 
and  shores.  Kiushiu  is  literally  "The  Nine  Provinces,"  a 
designation  also  derived  from  an  earlier  governmental 
organization.  It  is  separated  from  the  Main  Island  by  the 
narrow  straits  of  Shimonoseki,  through  which  passes  most 
of  the  shipping  from  the  east  coast  of  Asia  to  North  America. 
It  is  but  a  comparatively  short  distance  from  Korea  and 
since  it  is  also  nearer  to  China  than  any  other  of  the  prin- 
cipal islands  of  the  older  Japan,  it  was  the  gateway  through 
which  came  most  of  the  influences  from  the  continent.  It 
was,  too,  the  first  to  be  profoundly  affected  by  European 
intercourse  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Its  chief  port,  pic- 
turesque Nagasaki,  is  still  one  of  the  most  important  har- 
bors in  the  empire.  Formosa  was  ceded  to  Japan  by  China 
in  1895  and  racially  is  as  yet  unassimilated  to  the  rest  of  the 
nation.  To  the  north  of  Yezo  he  the  Kuriles,^  a  long  line  of 
thinly  settled  islands.  Kiushiu  and  Formosa  are  connected 
by  the  Riu  Kiu  group,  which  has  become  definitely  Japanese 
only  within  the  past  sixty  years.  In  addition  to  its  islands, 
Japan  now  holds  the  neighboring  peninsula  of  Korea  ^ 
which  has  about  half  the  area  of  the  insular  part  of  the 
empire,  and  has  come  to  dominate  the  adjoining  territories 
of  Southern  Manchuria  and  Eastern  Inner  MongoUa.  Of 
these  continental  possessions  more  will  be  said  later. 

THE  EFFECTS  OF  GEOGRA.PHY  UPON  THE  JAPANESE  PEOPLE 
AND   THEIR  HISTORY 

But  this  enumeration  of  its  main  component  parts  and 
area  reveals  little  of  the  many  important  effects  that  the 

1  Called  Chishima  by  the  Japanese. 
*  Called  Chosen  by  the  Japanese. 


THE  GEOGRAPHIC  SETTING  OF  JAPAN  3 

land  has  had  upon  its  people.  First  of  all,  the  fact  that  the 
historic  Japan  has  been  a  closely  coherent  group  of  islands 
has  promoted  unity.  As  we  shall  see  later,  the  Japanese, 
although  of  diverse  origin,  are  a  distinct  type,  and  have, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  sections  in  the  north  and  in  the 
newly  acquired  islands  in  the  south,  attained  a  remarkable 
homogeneity.  They  have,  as  well  a  highly  developed  na- 
tional consciousness.  Their  intense  patriotism  has  un- 
doubtedly been  furthered  by  the  fact  that  the  sea  has 
separated  them  from  other  peoples. 

This  insular  position  has,  as  well,  encouraged  individual- 
ity and  continuity  in  national  development.  Never  since 
the  original,  prehistoric  migrations  of  the  ancestors  of  the 
Japanese  have  the  islands  been  successfully  invaded.  No 
foreigners  have  interrupted  the  sequence  of  events,  as  in 
China,  by  overthrowing  the  native  dynasty  and  establishing 
on  the  throne  an  alien  line  of  monarchs.  Only  during  the 
great  Mongol  Eruptions  in  the  thirteenth  century  was  the 
nation  seriously  threatened  with  foreign  domination.  The 
invasions  that  have  succeeded  have  been  those  of  ideas,  not 
of  peoples.  The  civilization  that  has  been  evolved,  al- 
though deeply  affected  by  influences  from  without,  has  been 
distinctive.  The  free  and  at  times  wholesale  appropriation 
of  alien  cultures  has  always  been  marked  by  a  certain  vig- 
orous originality  that  has  put  its  stamp  on  all  that  has  been 
acquired. 

Then  the  fact  that  the  Japanese  are  an  island  people  has 
encouraged  them  to  become  a  sea-faring  folk.  This  tend- 
ency has  been  strengthened  by  the  prevalence  of  protected 
bays  and  the  absence  of  great  gaps  between  islands.  The 
harbors  at  Nagasaki  and  Yokohama,  to  mention  only  two, 
are  among  the  best  in  the  world.  The  Inland  Sea,  dotted 
with  islands,  free  from  storms,  and  near  the  home  of  early 


4  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Japanese  civilization,  invited  to  a  life  on  the  water.  The 
Japanese  have  been  famous  fishermen.  It  is  but  natural 
that  in  this  day  of  international  commerce  they  should  take 
kindly  to  the  sea  and  that  their  flag  should  be  seen  in  every 
port  of  the  world. 

The  Japanese  islands  have,  moreover,  a  peculiarly  inti- 
mate relation  to  the  eastern  shore  of  Asia.  TheirLneamess 
to  the  coast  promotes  intercourse.  In  at  least  three  places 
they  so  nearly  touch  the  continent  that  commimication  is 
comparatively  easy — Sakhalin  on  the  north,  Kiushiu  and 
Korea  in  the  center,  and  Formosa  on  the  south.  Of  greatest 
importance  has  been  the  second,  for  it  was  partly  through 
Korea  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Japanese  reached  the  is- 
lands. It  was  through  Korea  that  the  main  stream  of 
Chinese  and  Indian  culture  flowed  to  Japan.  It  is  through 
Korea  that  to-day  commercial  intercourse  with  the  con- 
tinent most  easily  takes  place.  Through  Sakhalin  may  have 
come  some  aboriginal  tribes  from  the  north,  possibly  the 
ancestors  of  the  modem  Ainu.  Through  Formosa  by  way 
of  the  Riu  Kiu  Islandi=  Malay  elements  entered,  and  possi- 
bly some  strains  of  blood  from  the  mainland. 

This  nearness  to  Asia  means,  too,  that  the  Japanese  are 
vitally  interested  in  continental  affairs.  Here  is  their 
natural  field  for  commercial  and  territorial  expansion. 
Here  is  the  natural  outlet  for  their  surplus  population. 
They  must  see  to  it  that  no  strong  foreign  power  dominates 
the  points  where  Japan  most  nearly  touches  Asia.  Hence 
they  fought  both  Russia  and  China  for  Korea,  and  later 
annexed  it.  Hence  they  demanded  that  China  alienate  to 
no  European  power  the  coast  of  Fuhkien  province  opposite 
Formosa.  They  must  also  insist  that  their  voice  be  heard 
in  settling  the  affairs  of  their  unwieldy  neighbor,  China, 
and  that  her  door  be  kept  open  to  their  conmierce:  they 


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f  HONG-KONG 


THE  GEOGRAPHIC  SETTING  OF  JAPAN  5 

have  attempted  during  the  War  of  Nations  so  to  establish 
themselves  in  the  great  Asiatic  republic  that  they  cannot 
be  easily  dislodged  when  the  struggle  is  over^  Their  policy 
on  the  continent  has  not  without  some  appropriateness  been 
styled  their  "Monroe  Doctrine."  It  has  been  inspired 
largely  by  the  same  fear  of  foreign  aggression  that  gave  rise 
to  our  insistence  on  Latin-American  independence.  We 
feared  lest  Europe,  by  encroaching  on  the  newly  won 
freedom  of  our  sister  republics  of  the  south,  would  threaten 
our  own  existence.  Japan  is  apprehensive  of  a  monopoly 
by  Occidental  nations  of  the  vast  resources  of  China  and 
Korea  that  would  stifle  her  legitimate  commercial  expan- 
sion. In  the  hearts  of  some  of  her  leaders  there  has  been 
a  passion  for  expansion,  but  before  we  cast  a  stone  we  need 
to  remember  that  it  is  not  yet  a  himdred  years  since  we 
talked  glibly  of  our  "manifest  destiny"  and  seized  vast 
regions  from  a  defenseless  neighbor. 

The  length  of  the  chain  of  islands,  combined  with  the 
proximity  to  the  coast  of  Asia,  is  a  factor  of  importance. 
In  prehistoric  days  it  meant  that  from  many  different 
points  diverse  racial  elements  could  find  their  way  into  the 
islands.  Thus  through  Sakhalin  have  come  peoples  akin 
to  those  of  Siberia,  through  Korea  various  folk  from  Central 
Asia,  China,  and  Korea,  and  from  the  south  some  of  Malay 
blood.  In  more  recent  times  this  relationship  to  the  con- 
tinent has  placed  Japan  in  a  position  to  dominate  nearly  all 
the  east  coast  of  Asia.  Great  Britain  because  of  her  location 
has  long  been  able  to  command  the  ocean  routes  to  north- 
western Europe  and  to  be  queen  of  the  North  Atlantic;  even 
more  does  Japan's  geographical  position  point  to  her  as  the 
logical  mistress  of  the  foreign  commerce  and  shipping  of  far- 
eastern  Asia. 

Her  location  has  made  Japan  the  natural  interpreter  of 


6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

the  culture  of  the  Occident  to  the  Far  East.  It  is  no  mere 
accident  that  she  should  have  been  the  first  nation  of  that 
region  unreservedly  to  unbar  her  doors  to  the  3X^t.  Her 
great  harbors,  some  facing  Asia  and  some^^ulerica,  were  an 
open  challenge  to  the  Occident  when  the  age  of  steam  began 
to  dot  the  Pacific  with  ships.  Nor  is  it  an  accident  that 
Japan  should  have  led  in  opening  Korea,  and  that  Chinese 
should  have  flocked  in  such  numbers  to  her  universities  to 
acquire  the  new  learning.  She  has  geographical  reasons  for 
beUeving  herself  preordained  to  guide  the  Far  East  into 
the  new  age. 

Not  only  have  her  insularity  and  her  relation  to  the 
Asiatic  mainland  influenced  Japan  profoundly,  but  the 
characteristics  of  the  land  itself  have  been  important.  In 
the  first  place,  the  islands  are  very  mountainous.  They  are 
badly  broken  by  peaks  and  ranges.  Some  of  these  are  of 
volcanic  origin,  others  the  result  of  folding,  but  they  occupy 
the  larger  part  of  Japan's  surface.  As  a  result  only  a  small 
proportion  of  the  land  is  tillable.  At  present  about  seven- 
teen per  cent,  of  Japan's  area  (exclusive  of  Korea)  is  listed 
as  arable.  Probably  another  ten  per  cent,  can  be  reclaimed, 
although  the  process  will  prove  costly.  This  means  that 
the  limits  of  population  supported  by  home-grown  food  are 
soon  reached.  Any  excess  beyond  these  limits  must  either 
emigrate  or  busy  itself,  as  in  Great  Britain,  with  manufac- 
turing and  commerce.  Fortunately  there  is  near  at  hand  a 
vast  continent.  In  Manchuria,  Mongolia,  and  Siberia  are 
unoccupied  lands  for  immigrants.  In  China  there  is  a 
teeming,  industrious  population,  the  greatest  potential 
market  in  the  world,  and  unmeasured  supplies  of  raw 
material.  Nearly  the  entire  eastern  coast  of  Asia  is  a  great 
granary,  and  is  to  become  a  greater  one.  Moreover,  the 
mountains  of  Japan  invite  to  manufacturing.    They  are  in 


THE  GEOGRAPHIC  SETTING  OF  JAPAN  ^ 

places  well  stocked  with  coal,  and  their  streams  can  be 
harnessed  to  provide  water  power.  They  are,  unfortunately, 
lacking  in  iron  ore,  but  this  is  found  in  great  abundance  in 
China  proper  and  Manchuria,  not  far  from  navigable 
streams  which  connect  directly  with  the  sea  and  with  Japan. 
It  is  evident  that  Japan  must  insist  that  the  door  on  the 
neighboring  continent  be  kept  open  to  her,  and  it  is  but 
natural  that  she  should  seek  special  privileges  there.  Here 
is  a  source  of  food;  here  is  a  possible  outlet  for  surplus 
population;  here  is  a  market  for  her  manufactures;  here  a 
store  of  raw  materials. 

The  mountains  cut  the  islands  into  small  valleys  and 
plains.  There  are  few  navigable  streams,  and  in  the  old 
days  before  the  advent  of  railways,  telegraphs,  and  steam- 
boats, intercommunication  was  difficult.  As  in  most  moun- 
tain countries,  a  strong  tendency  to  internal  division  fol- 
lowed. The  nation  separated  naturally  into  small  groups, 
each  of  which  tended  to  become  independent  of  the  central 
power,  and  the  feudal  form  of  government  and  the  em- 
phasis on  family  which  we  are  later  to  notice  easily  devel- 
oped. 

Japan  is  favored  in  climate.  She  lies  largely  in  the 
temperate  zone,  the  home  of  the  great  civilizations  of  the 
globe.  By  some  observers  she  is  said  to  have,  more  than 
any  other  country  of  Asia,  that  succession  of  cyclonic  dis- 
turbances which  helps  to  produce  the  marked  changes  in 
temperature  from  day  to  day  that  are  believed  by  a  school 
of  modern  geographers  to  promote  human  activity  and 
civilization.  She  has  an  abundant  rainfall.  The  Black 
Current,^  a  warm  ocean  stream  from  the  tropics,  washes  a 
portion  of  her  shores.  Vegetation  is  luxuriant  and  as  much 
of  her  land  as  is  tillable  responds  splendidly  to  the  efforts 
1  Kuro  Shiwo. 


8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

of  the  husbandmen.  Her  large  population  could  not  have 
been  self-supporting  for  so  long  had  soil  and  climate  T^ot 
favored  her  efforts. 

The  natural  surroundings  may,  moreover,  partly  account 
for  the  love  of  beauty  which  we  so  associate  with  the 
Japanese.  The  wooded  hills,  the  infinite  variety  of  moun- 
tain and  valley,  of  lake  and  harbor  and  sea,  could  scarcely 
have  failed  to  develop  in  the  people  any  latent  sense  of  the 
artistic.  The  land  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world, 
and  the  inhabitants  have  responded  to  it  with  a  love  for 
flowers,  for  trees,  for  birds,  for  moonlit  lakes,  for  streams  and 
waterfalls.  Their  politeness  and  regard  for  ordered  cere- 
monial may  also  be  partially  the  result  of  long  ages  spent 
in  an  attractive  environment. 

The  very  situation  and  the  natural  resources  and  char- 
acteristics of  the  islands,  then,  have  had  and  still  have  a 
profound  influence  upon  the  people,  their  civilization,  their 
ambitions,  and  their  policies. 

Bibliography.  (See  end  of  the  book  for  annotations  and  fur- 
ther details  on  these  works.)  Griffis,  The  Mikadoes  Empire; 
Japan  Year  Book,  1916;  Hearn,  Glimpses  of  Unfamiliar  Japan; 
Mitford,  Japan^s  Inheritance;  Nitobe,  The  Japanese  Nation; 
Encydopadia  Britannica,  eleventh  edition,  article  Japan. 


CHAPTER  II 

From  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Introduction  of 
Buddhism 

Of  the  early  history  of  the  Japanese  we  know  but  im- 
perfectly. Traditions,  myths,  and  fragments  of  poetry  and 
religious  ritual  have  told  us  something.  Ethnology  and 
archeology  are  telUng  us  a  little  more.  The  most  ancient 
written  records  now  in  existence  did  not  take  their  present 
form  until  the  eighth  century  A.  D.  The  oldest  of  these,  the 
Kojiki  ("Records  of  Ancient  Doings")  was  finished  in  712 
and  was  a  written  transcript  of  the  ancient  traditions  and 
records  from  the  memory  of  one  man  who  had  made  a  busi- 
ness of  collecting  them.  The  next,  the  Nihongi,  ("Chron- 
icles of  Japan"),  was  completed  in  714  ^  and  was  the  work 
of  a  number  of  oflBicially  appointed  scholars  who  carefully 
examined  existing  records  and  traditions.  It  was  more 
profoundly  influenced  by  Chinese  thought  and  language 
than  was  the  Kojiki,  but  in  both  works  the  original  stories 
were  made  to  conform  to  the  ideas  and  surroundings  of 
their  compilers.^ 

the  traditional  account  of  ja'panese  origins 

The  myths  and  traditions  as  they  have  come  down  to  us 
give  a  most  naive  account  of  the  origin  of  the  land,  the 

*  An  emended  edition,  called  the  Nihonshoji,  was  completed  in  720. 

*  Another  record,  the  Fudoki,  made  in  713,  was  a  statement  by  the 
provinces  of  their  natural  features  and  traditions.  Only  fragments  of 
it  have  survived. 


lo  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

people,  and  the  state.  Curious  and  numerous  gods  and  god- 
desses are  seen.  After  the  birth  of  a  series  of  divinities 
whom  we  need  not  notice,  the  islands  themselves  and  various 
gods  representing  the  forces  of  nature  come  into  existence 
las  offspring  of  a  divine  pair,  Izanagi  and  his  wife  Izanami. 
/izanami  dies  and  Izanagi  goes  to  the  underworld  to  seek 
her.  He  finds  her,  but  angers  her,  and  returns  without  her 
to  the  upper  world.  He  finds  himself  contaminated  by  con- 
tact with  the  dead,  and  among  other  divinities  there  are 
born  from  the  pollution  which  he  washes  off,  the  Goddess 
of  the  Sun  (Amaterasu),  the  God  of  the  Moon,  and  the  God 
of  Force.  ^  The  God  of  Force  proved  troublesome  and  so 
offended  his  sister,  the  Sun  Goddess,  that  she  retired  into  a 
cave  and  left  the  world  in  darkness.  The  divinities  ^  in 
great  distress  attempted  to  induce  her  to  return.  At  the 
suggestion  of  one  of  their  number  they  performed  before 
her  refuge  a  sacred  dance  and  liturgy,  the  traditional  origin 
of  some  of  the  later  religious  ritual,  and  by  sounds  of  mer- 
riment tempted  her  to  peep  out.  She  was  informed  that  a 
greater  than  she  had  been  found,  and  to  convince  her  a 
mirror  was  shown  her  in  which  she  saw  her  own  face  re- 
flected. Surprised,  she  gradually  came  out,  and  the  gods 
barred  the  cave  behind  her  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  her 
flight.  The  God  of  Force  eventually  left  heaven  and  from 
htm  sprang  a  race  of  men  in  Izumo,  a  province  on  the  south- 
west coast  of  the  main  island.  Ninigi,  a  grandson  of  the 
Sun  Goddess,  was  commissioned  by  the  gods  to  rule  Japan 
and  as  a  sign  of  sovereignity  was  given  a  chaplet  of  jewels, 
a  sword,  and  the  mirror  that  had  helped  entice  his  grand- 
mother out  of  her  cave.    These  three  objects  are  still  the 

'  Susanoo. 

"  Kami,  the  Japanese  call  them,  a  name  not  exactly  represented  by 
any  single  English  word. 


FROM  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  BUDDHISM  ii 

insignia  of  the  imperial  house  of  Japan.  Ninigi  settled  in 
Kiushiu  and  a  descendant  of  his,  known  to  posterity  as 
Jimmu,  or  Jimmu  Tenno/  made  his  way  to  Yamato,  on 
the  peninsula  that  juts  southward  from  the  main  island  to 
the  east  of  Shikoku,  and  there  established  himself  as  em- 
peror. Then  followed  long  centuries  and  many  rulers. 
Kiushiu,  Shikoku,  and  the  southern  part  of  the  main  island 
were  brought  under  the  sway  of  the  royal  house  in  Yamato, 
and  the  conquests  were  extended  among  the  non- Japanese 
peoples  of  the  north.  One  notable  warrior,  Yamato-dake, 
whose  name  is  still  dear  to  the  nation,  made  his  way  as  far 
north  as  the  bay  of  Tokyo,  fighting  with  the  aborigines  of 
the  intervening  districts.  The  accession  of  Jimmu  is  placed 
by  Japanese  annalists  at  660  B.  C. 

The  complete  story  of  these  early  centuries  is  a  long  one,^ 
but  the  many  attempts  that  have  been  made  to  find  in 
it  traces  of  authentic  history  disclose  only  a  minimum  of 
fact.  The  story  is,  however,  still  taught  in  Japan  and  al- 
though no  longer  believed  by  men  of  education,  it  is  seldom 
openly  denied  and  it  has  had  and  still  has  a  profound  in- 
fluence upon  the  nation.  According  to  it  the  emperor  is 
descended  from  the  gods,  and  the  imperial  house  has,  to  use 
the  words  of  the  constitution  promulgated  in  1890,  "a  lineal 
succession  unbroken  for  ages  eternal."  ^  It  helps  to  invest 
the  ruling  line  with  the  dignity  and  sanction  of  the  divine 
and  to  make  disloyalty  a  sacrilege.  Copies  of  the  jewels, 
sword,  and  mirror  which  are  said  to  have  been  given  to 
Ninigi  are  still  transmitted  from  emperor  to  emperor,  and 

^Tenno  means  "lord  of  heaven,"  or  emperor. 

^  It  may  be  found  in  some  degree  of  detail  in  Brinkley,  A  History  of 
the  Japanese  People. 

'The  present  emperor  is  by  Japanese  reckoning  the  123rd  of  the 
line. 


12  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

are  emblems  of  the  monarch's  divine  ancestry.  In  spite 
of  modem  science,  the  influence  of  these  beliefs  remains 
strong.  However  much  the  educated  may  have  lost  faith 
in  them,  openly  to  deny  them  might  even  now  be  con- 
strued as  treason. 

The  nation  at  large  was,  moreover,  at  the  time  of  Perry's 
coming,  believed  by  the  more  radical  patriots  to  be  de- 
scended from  the  gods  and  so  to  be  superior  to  all  others, 
and  the  land  was  held  to  be  par  excellence  the  country  of 
the  gods;  of  all  the  earth  it  was  the  nearest  to  heaven 
when  the  connection  between  the  two  was  broken.  While 
never  so  generally  nor  so  strongly  held  as  the  belief 
in  the  divine  origin  of  the  emperor,  these  convictions 
produced  an  attitude  of  mind  that  may  still  reenforce  the 
intense,  almost  chauvinistic  patriotism  that  exists  in  some 
quarters. 

From  these  stories,  reenforced  by  ethnology  and  archeol- 
ogy, it  is  possible  to  reconstruct  with  some  degree  of  ac- 
curacy the  main  outlines  of  the  beginnings  of  Japan.  The 
earliest  inhabitants  of  the  islands  seem  to  have  been  a  race 
called  "cave  men."  Their  very  existence  is  questioned. 
If  they  were  a  real  people  the  only  remaining  traces  of  them 
are  pit  dwellings  and  shell  mounds,  and  they  must  have 
been  in  the  most  primitive  stages  of  culture.  Entirely  his- 
torical, however,  are  a  strong  race  of  aborigines,^  probably 
the  ancestors  of  those  Ainu  who  are  still  to  be  found  on  the 
island  of  Yezo  and  the  Kuriles,  a  hairy,  flat-faced  people,  at 
present  mild-tempered.  Of  their  origin  nothing  certain  is 
known;  some  have  supposed  that  they  came  from  northern 
Asia.  When  the  first  Japanese  found  their  way  to  the 
islands  these  aborigines  were  in  possession  of  most  of  the 
land.  They  were  a  fierce,  rough  lot,  still  in  the  stone  age. 
*  Called  Yemishi  in  the  Japanese  records. 


i 


FROM  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  BUDDHISM  13 

They  were  cannibals,  and  apparently  were  without  family 
^7  life;  They  offered  a  sturdy  resistance  to  the  more  nearly 
'  civilized  invaders  and  were  driven  back  and  subdued  only 
after  long  centuries  of  warfare,  warfare  which  continued 
to  within  the  past  few  hundred  years.  They  left  permanent 
marks  on  their  conquerors,  chiefly  in  an  admixture  of  blood 
which  is  strongest  in  the  north. 

The  Japanese  of  to-day  are  a  mixed  race,  and  are  the  re- 
sult of  the  coalescence  of  several  migrations.  We  cannot 
trace  with  certainty  all  the  streams,  but  there  must  have 
been  several  of  them  from  various  sources,  reaching  the 
islands  at  different  times.  Not  only  do  traditions  and 
myths  indicate  a  composite  origin,  but  archeological  re- 
mains, consisting  principally  of  graves  and  their  contents, 
unmistakably  show  it.  The  amalgamation,  moreover,  has 
never  been  entirely  completed;  from  the  earliest  times  there 
have  been  two  pronounced  types,  the  aristocratic,  slender 
of  limb  and  of  light  complexion,  and  the  plebeian,  stocky  and 
dark.  The  migrations  came  from  the  continent  for  the  most 
part,  chiefly  by  the  way  of  the  Korean  peninsula,  but  also 
from  the  south.  There  are  strong  strains  of  Malay  blood 
which  are  apparently  due  to  settlements  partly  from  the 
continent  and  partly  from  the  southern  islands.  Tradition, 
in  fact,  tells  of  a  people  ^  in  Kiushiu  which  some  have 
thought  to  be  to-day  represented  by  a  race  in  Borneo  and 
to  have  come  northward  along  the  chain  of  islands  from 
the  south.  They  were  conquered  by  the  Japanese  from 
Yamato  and  very  possibly  amalgamated  with  them.  Too 
little  is  as  yet  known  of  the  ethnology  of  the  Far  East  to 
enable  us  to  determine  accurately  all  the  racial  afl51iations 
of  the  Japanese.  Some  of  the  groups  that  have  entered  into 
the  formation  of  the  Chinese  are  evidently  represented,  but 

^Kiunaso. 


14  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

there  are  diflferences  which  must  be  accounted  for  on  the 
basis  of  origin  as  well  as  of  environment.  The  Manchu- 
Korean  and  the  Malay  stocks  predominate,  with  the  bal- 
ance in  favor  of  the  latter,  but  there  are  as  well  traces  of 
infusion  of  other  blood,  part  of  it  Mongol,  part  of  it  still 
undetermined.  Some  enthusiasts  have  even  seriously 
claimed  to  have  found  an  Indo-European  admixture.  In 
language  the  Japanese  more  nearly  resemble  some  of  the 
groups  of  northern  and  central  Asia,  and  especially  Korea, 
but  there  are  also  Kkenesses  to  the  Malay  tongues. 

When  they  arrived  in  the  islands  the  ancestors  of  the 
Japanese  were  some  of  them  in  the  bronze  and  some  in  the 
iron  age  and  were  evidently  much  superior  to,  although 
probably  less  numerous  than  the  aborigines  whom  they 
found  in  possession.  There  were  two  main  centers  from 
which  they  spread,  one  in  what  is  now  Izumo,  and  one  on 
the  south  coast  of  the  island  of  Kiushiu.  The  latter  was 
nearer  to  the  southern  islands  and  possibly  also  to  Korea. 
There  was  also  apparently  a  center  of  culture  in  Yamato. 
The  peoples  in  all  three  of  these  places  may  have  been 
closely  related  in  blood.  The  settlers  on  Kiushiu  first  con- 
quered Yamato  and  then  Izmno.  The  first  conquest  of 
Yamato  was  traditionally  made  under  Jimmu  Tenno.  At 
any  event  it  was  at  Yamato  that  the  Japanese  state  first 
had  its  seat  and  it  was  from  there  that  it  gradually  ex- 
panded. The  time  of  the  foundation  of  the  state  was 
probably  several  hundred  years  later  than  the  legendary 
660  B.  C.  Extension  was  not  an  easy  matter;  it  was 
achieved  only  by  dint  of  constant  warfare  with  other 
Japanese,  against  the  ancestors  of  the  Ainu,  who  stub- 
bornly contested  every  foot  of  ground,  and  with  other 
peoples,  dimly  discerned  on  the  pages  of  the  Kojiki  and 
Nihongi. 


FROM  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  BUDDHISM  15 

THE  YAMATO   STATE 

In  the  course  of  some  centuries  the  Japanese  hewed  out 
for  themselves  a  state  which  held  in  rather  loose  allegiance 
the  southern  part  of  the  main  island  and  Shikoku  and 
Kiushiu.  It  reached  northward  toward  the  center  of  the 
main  island  and  was  strong  enough  to  undertake  a  raid  on 
the  mainland,  A  persistent  story  has  come  down  of  an 
invasion  of  Korea  under  the  leadership  of  a  redoubtable 
woman,  the  empress  Jingo.  Her  son,  Ojin,  is  even  more 
famous  and  is  still  revered  as  Hachiman,  the  God  of  War. 
From  monuments  and  the  Korean  records  we  learn  that 
there  were  several  raids  on  the  peninsula  by  the  Japanese. 
The  peninsula  was  nearer  China,  the  great  civilized  state 
of  the  East  Asia  of  those  days,  and  hence  probably  had  a 
higher  culture  than  the  Japanese,  but  it  was  divided  into  a 
number  of  principahties  whose  quarrels  offered  great 
temptations  to  the  island  warrior  chiefs.  For  years  the 
Japanese  were  in  possession  of  a  part  of  southern  Korea,  and 
there  were  frequent  movements  of  Korean  emigrants  to 
Japan.  The  petty  Korean  states  nearest  Japan  were  con- 
sidered as  tributary  to  the  court  in  Yamato. 

The  culture  of  the  little  kingdom  that  centered  at  Yamato 
was  primitive  enough.  There  were  no  cities  and  no  care- 
fully constructed  houses.  For  several  centuries  writing  was 
either  unknown  or  used  only  by  a  very  few.  Family  life 
was  a  patriarchy  with  lingering  traces  of  matriarchy.  The 
land  was  owned  principally  by  the  emperors  and  the  noble 
families.  There  was  some  navigation  in  small  craft,  and 
fish  formed  a  part  of  the  national  diet,  although  probably 
not  so  largely  as  now.  Rice  and  other  grains  were  culti- 
vated. Many  kinds  of  vegetables  were  known  and  used. 
The  dense  forests  that  originally  covered  the  land  were 


#» 


l6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

gradually  cleared  away,  and  tilled  fields  took  their  places. 
Irrigation  was  practiced.  Game  was  hunted  in  the  forests 
and  formed  a  part  of  the  bill  of  fare.  Cooking  was  in 
unglazed  earthen  vessels.  For  clothing,  silk  was  used  a 
little,  but  the  principal  fabrics  were  made  from  hemp  and 
bark.  Cotton  %as  not  introduced  from  China  until  later 
and  wool  was  unknown.  There  was  no  money  and  such 
trade  as  existed  was  carried  on  by  barter.  Art  was  of  the 
crudest,  although,  contrary  to  the  custom  of  later  ages, 
the  Japanese  elaborately  decked  themselves  with  personal 
ornaments.  Some  of  the  accouterments  of  war  showed  the 
beginnings  of  the  aesthetic  sense.  There  were  a  few  simple 
trades,  for  implements  were  needed  on  the  farm,  in  the 
home,  and  for  battle.  Artisans  were  organized  by  guilds. 
Life  was  largely  agricultural  and  mihtary.  The  population 
was  divided  into  a  number  of  different  classes;  serfs  were  to 
be  found,  and  slavery  existed,  as  might  be  expected  from  the 
nearly  incessant  warfare.  There  were  apparently  no  codes' 
of  law,  and  justice  was  administered  in  a  crude  kind  of  way. 
The  accused  frequently  swore  to  his  innocence  before  the 
gods  and  as  proof  of  guiltlessness  thrust  his  arm  in  boiling 
water  or  carried  a  hot  iron  in  his  hand.  Customs  that  seem 
to  us  cruel  were  in  use.  For  example,  the  servitors,  wives, 
and  concubines  of  a  chief  were  buried  alive  by  the  grave  of 
their  lord.  Not  until  later,  and  then  probably  due  to 
influence  from  the  continent,  were  clay  images  substituted 
for  the  living  sacrifices. 

From  the  beginning  the  state  was  based  on  war,  and  the 
prolonged  struggle  with  the  Ainu  and  principalities  in  the 
south  and  west  but  tended  to  accentuate  this  characteristic. 
Unlike  their  continental  neighbors,  the  Chinese,  the  Japa- 
nese as  they  expanded  were  compelled  to  fight  for  every  inch 
of  soil;  as  a  result  their  culture  had  largely  a  military  as  well 


FROM  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  BUDDHISM  17 

as  an  agricultural  cast.  In  China  the  soldier  has  usually 
been  considered  of  secondary  importance,  an  evil  to  be  en- 
dured only  because  he  is  necessary  for  the  defense  of  the 
scholars,  farmers,  and  merchants.  In  Japan,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  important  centuries,  he  has  dominated  the' 
state. 

The  imperial  institution  apparently  dates  from  the 
earliest  days  of  the  nation.  That  does  not  mean  that  it  was 
originally  what  we  know  it  to  be  to-day.  It  was  a  gradual 
growth.  At  first  the  ruler  was  simply  the  leader  who  united 
the  various  tribes  or  families  in  war  and  formed  a  nucleus 
for  a  loose  kind  of  coherence  in  the  intervals  of  peace. 
Theoretically,  possibly  as  a  result  of  the  unity  made  neces- 
sary by  the  long  warfare  with  the  aborigines  and  other 
enemies,  he  was  absolute;  practically  he  shared  his  power 
with  local  chieftains,  and  the  state  resembled  a  federation  of 
tribes  under  his  hereditary  leadership.  Not  all  the  chief- 
tains were  loyal.  Those  in  the  far  west  and  south  were 
often  virtually  independent  and  yielded  allegiance  to  the 
Yamato  court  only  when  a  vigorous  monarch  sat  on  the 
throne.  The  emperor  was  high  priest,  declared  war  and 
peace,  and  the  imperial  institution  became  so  firmly  fixed  in 
the  consciousness  of  the  nation  that  although  much  modi- 
fied, it  persisted  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  later  cen- 
turies. It  was  never  abandoned,  and  when  the  great  trans- 
formation of  the  nineteenth  century  came  it  formed  the 
rallying  point  for  the  reorganized  nation. 

Religion  was  of  the  simplest.  There  was  no  formal 
theology  and  no  elaborate  system  of  ethics.  Cosmogony 
was  childlike.  The  people  had  not  yet  thought  deeply  on 
conduct,  and  on  the  mysteries  of  life  and  the  origin  of 
things.  The  great  forces  and  objects  of  nature  were  deified 
and  the  spirits  of  ancestors  were  worshipped,  especially 


i8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

those  of  the  imperial  house:  religion  came  to  be,  in  fact, 
very  largely  the  cult  and  bulwark  of  the  royal  power.  Man 
was  believed  to  be  surrounded  by  a  host  of  spirits  who  Uved 
in  trees,  or  rocks,  or  the  air.  Animals  as  well  as  men  might 
be  regarded  as  divinities.  Shrines  were  few  in  number  and 
crude  in  architecture.  Ritual  was  not  ornate  or  compli- 
cated, and  consisted  largely  in  the  adoration  and  pro- 
pitiation of  spirits,  gods,  and  ancestors,  and  in  purification 
from  ceremonial  uncleanness.  This  purification  was  partly 
associated  with  a  personal  cleanhness  which  seems  then  as 
now  to  have  been  a  national  characteristic.  In  common 
with  other  primitive  peoples  various  objects  were  held  to  be 
taboo,  a  corpse,  for  example,  and  a  woman  at  childbirth. 
This  primitive  religion  has  persisted  with  amazingly  few 
modifications.  Originally  it  had  no  distinctive  name,  but 
after  foreign  cults  entered,  it  became  self-conscious  and  was 
dubbed  Shinto,  "the  Way  of  the  Gods."  Present  day 
Shinto  is  this  primitive  religion  with  the  changes  that  it  has 
undergone  through  the  centuries. 

The  simple  culture  here  described  was  the  product  of 
centuries  through  which  progress  was  taking  place  and 
changes  were  always  occurring.  Only  dimly  can  we  picture 
these  times,  and  even  more  inadequately  can  we  treat  them 
in  a  book  of  this  length. 

CHINESE  civilization:  its  contact  with  japan 

While  the  Japanese  state  was  growing  up  around  Yamato, 
a  mighty  civilization  was  being  formed  on  the  neighboring 
continent.  Beginning  at  least  as  early  as  the  second  mil- 
lennium before  the  Christian  era,  in  what  is  now  the  north- 
western section  of  China  proper,  the  Chinese  people  had 
been  increasing  in  numbers  and  territory,  and  in  the  latter 


FROM  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  BUDDHISM  19 

half  of  the  first  miUennium  before  Christ  they  had  pro- 
duced a  philosophy,  a  literature,  an  art,  and  an  industrial 
and  commercial  organization  that  compare  favorably  with 
the  best  cultures  of  the  ancient  Occident.  Confucius  had 
meditated  on  the  philosophy,  ethics,  and  statecraft  of  his 
race,  and,  leaving  on  them  the  indelible  stamp  of  a  great 
personality,  had  transmitted  them  to  posterity  in  a  group  of 
writings  and  sayings,  the  major  part  of  the  so-called  Chinese 
classics.  These  have  had  an  influence  on  a  larger  proportion 
of  mankind  than  any  other  literary  collection  outside  of  the 
Christian  and  the  Buddhist  scriptures.  Mencius  and  other 
philosophers  had  followed  him.  The  Taoist  faith  had  been 
developed.  Writing  had  been  brought  to  a  high  state  of 
perfection  in  the  form  of  characters,  partly  pictographs, 
partly  ideographs,  partly  phonograms,  and  a  literary  form 
had  been  produced  which  with  remarkably  few  alterations  is 
the  standard  for  the  Chinese  written  language  to-day.  Agri- 
culture, industry,  and  commerce  flourished.  Population 
had  multiplied. 

In  the  third  century  before  Christ  the  separate  Chinese 
principalities  had  been  welded  together  into  one  empires 
Under  the  Han  dynasty  (B.  C.  206-A.  D.  214),  in  the  flush 
of  newly  found  national  unity,  the  boundaries  had  been 
extended  to  the  north,  east,  and  south,  and  for  a  time  in- 
cluded much  of  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Chinese 
empire  of  to-day.  Trade  had  been  opened  across  the  cara- 
van routes  of  Central  Asia  and  communication  established 
with  the  outposts  of  Indian  and  Greek  civilization. 

This  expanding  culture  on  the  neighboring  continent 
could  not  but  affect  Japan.  Princes  of  the  Han  had  set 
themselves  over  part  of  Korea  and  the  civilization  they 
brought  with  them  made  itself  felt  in  the  Yamato  state. 
In  the  centuries  that  followed  the  Han  Japanese  embassies 


20  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

were  sent  to  the  court  of  China;  much  that  was  Chinese  was 
adopted  by  the  semi-barbarous  islanders;  writing  was  in- 
troduced, although  the  knowledge  of  it  made  headway  but 
slowly,  and  Confucian  philosophy  became  known  in  court 
/^circles.  Korean  and  Chinese  artisans  and  merchants  im- 
migrated at  times  in  large  numbers,  bent  upon  developing 
for  their  own  profit  the  market  afforded  by  the  eager, 
virile,  backward  Japanese,  With  them,  as  with  the  Oc- 
cidental merchants  of  later  centuries,  came  a  civilization 
which  the  Japanese  appropriated  and  stamped  with  their 
own  genius. 

This  intercourse  had  been  in  progress  for  several  centuries 
and  under  its  stimulus  Japanese  culture  had  been  slowly 
developing,  when  a  series  of  events  took  place  which  within 
a  few  years  was  to  work  a  transformation  in  the  island 
kingdom.  The  Chinese  race  was  expanding.  For  cen- 
turies it  was  divided  into  petty  states,  but  a  renewed  unity 
came  and  was  followed  by  further  expansion  and  a  flowering 
of  art  and  literature  which  profoundly  affected  all  eastern 
Asia  including  Japan.  The  vehicle  for  this  enlarged  con- 
I   tribution  of  culture  from  China  to  Japan  was  ^uddhism^ 

For  further  reading  see:  Griffis,  The  Mikadoes  Empire;  Cham- 
berlain's translation  of  the  Kojiki;  Aston's  translation  of  the 
Nihongi;  Aston,  Shinto;  Brinkley,  Japan,  Its  History,  Arts,  and 
Literature;  Brinkley,  A  History  of  the  Japanese  People;  Asakawa, 
The  Early  Institutional  Life  of  Japan;  Longford,  The  Story  of 
Old  Japan;  Longford,  The  Story  of  Korea. 


CHAPTER  III 

From  the  Introduction  of  Buddhism,  A.  D.  552,  to  the 
Organization  of  the  Shogunate,  A.  D.  1192  >/ 

the  origin,  development,  and  spread  of  buddhism 

Buddhism  had  taken  its  rise  in  northern  India  in  the 
sixth  century  before  Christ  as  a  reforming  movement  and  a 
protest  against  the  religious  system  of  the  time.  Its  founder 
was  Gautama,^  a  man  of  noble  blood,  who  after  years  of 
inner  struggle  had  found  peace  of  mind  and  had  endeavored 
to  transmit  his  secret  to  others.  Sharing  the  beliefs  of  his 
times,  he  taught  that  life  was  a  long  chain  of  reincarnations, 
and  that  it  meant  poverty,  suffering,  disease,  and  death. 
Suffering,  he  had  discovered,  was  caused  by  men's  desires 
and  longings.  To  get  rid  of  it  one  must  quench  desire. 
The  stage  at  which  one  reached  the  perfect  elimination  of 
desire  was  called  Nirvana  and  with  its  attainment  the  chain 
of  reincarnations  with  their  entailment  of  suffering  was 
broken.  This  victory  over  desire  was  to  be  achieved  by  a 
combination  of  methods  whose  chief  practical  emphasis 
was  upon  a  life  of  meditation,  renimciation,  and  unselfish 
service.  The  material  world  was  transient,  and  man  was 
to  learn  to  think  of  its  goods  as  a  delusion  and  to  free  him- 
self from  all  longing  for  them.  As  Gautama  taught  it, 
Buddhism  had  little  to  say  about  the  gods.  If  they  existed 
they  were  subject  to  change  and  would  pass  away,  and  had 
best  be  ignored.    Man  could  achieve  salvation  by  his  own 

^  Usually  known  as  Gautama  Buddha,  "  Gautama  the  enlightened," 
or  Buddha,  "the  enlightened." 


22  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

strength  unaided  by  the  divine.  After  Gautama's  death 
his  system  underwent  a  transformation.  It  accumulated 
beliefs  and  practices  alien  to  the  spirit  of  its  founder,  whom, 
however,  it  deified  and  made  a  member  of  a  new  pantheon. 
It  spread  north  and  south  and  in  the  process  was  modified 
by  each  age  and  people  that  accepted  it.   The  northern  form, 

^  called  MaLhayana,  "the  Greater  Vehicle,"  evolved  in  the 
countries  to  the  northwest  of  India.  It  there  accumulated 
many  non-Indian  elements,  developed  an  art  under  Greek 
and  Persian  influences,  and  in  the  organization  of  its  cel- 
ibate priesthood,  its  services,  and  many  of  its  doctrines 
came  so  strangely  to  resemble  Eastern  and  Roman  Catholic 
Christianity  that  early  Roman  missionaries  could  account 
for  the  likeness  only  on  the  ground  of  malicious  imitation 
by  the  devil.  In  later  years  scholars  have  attempted  to 
trace  a  historical  connection  between  Christianity  and 
Buddhism,  and  have  proved  that  during  the  early  Christian 
centuries  there  was  some  contact  between  the  two.  There 
was  commerce  between  India  and  the  Roman  Orient;  the 
widespread  Manichaeism  was  a  mixture  of  Christian,  Persian, 
and  Buddhist  teaching;  and  Nestorian  missionaries  were 
to  be  found  in  Central  Asia.  Just  how  much  Buddhism 
and  organized  Christianity  owe  to  each  other,  however, 
has  yet  to  be  finally  determined.    The  southern  form  of 

^/^Buddhism,  called  Hinayana,  "the  Lesser  Vehicle,"  although 
it  departed  widely  IrOTonffie  simplicity  of  Gautama,  more 
nearly  resembled  the  primitive  faith  than  did  the  Mahayana 
school. 

It  ought  to  be  added  that  Buddhism,  especially  in  its 
Mahayana  form,  had  a  highly  developed  philosophy.  It  was 
by  no  means  a  mere  collection  of  superstitions,  although,  of 
course,  it  was  not  without  a  crasser  side  that  appealed  to 
the  multitude.    It  had  engaged  the  attention  of  thousands 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  23 

of  earnest,  keen  minds,  who  had  found  in  it  intellectual 
satisfaction  and  spiritual  light.  They  had  left  on  it  the  im- 
press of  their  thought  and  had  helped  to  make  of  it  a  faith 
that  not  only  had  a  message  for  the  simple  but  could  com- 
mand the  respect  and  engage  the  life-long  devotion  of  the 
most  highly  educated. 

Shortly  after  the  time  of  Christ  the  northern  form  of 
Buddhism  was  carried  to  China  along  the  trade  routes  of 
Central  Asia  opened  by  the  Han  dynasty,  and  in  the  next 
few  centuries,  reenforced  by  the  southern  form,  it  achieved 
great  popularity  and  took  its  place  among  the  three  chief 
faiths  of  the  empire. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  after  Christ  the 
Han  dynasty  collapsed,  and  with  it  Chinese  unity.  In  the 
earlier  years  of  the  intermittent  civil  war  that  followed,  the 
Chinese  were  naturally  not  inclined  to  push  out  to  neighbor- 
ing nations  with  their  culture.  At  the  end  of  a  century  and 
a  haK  or  two  centuries,  however,  some  of  the  states  into 
which  the  empire  was  divided  became  strong  enough  to 
exert  an  influence  on  their  neighbors,  and  Buddhist  mission- 
aries found  their  way  from  China  to  Korea.  By  the  middle 
of  the  sixth  and  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century  re- 
union was  in  sight.  Under  a  short-lived  dynasty  ^  followed 
by  a  much  stronger  one,  the  T'ang  (620-907),  China 
achieved  union,  her  boundaries  were  extended  beyond  any 
previous  limits,  and  a  great  development  in  commerce, 
art,  literature,  and  religion  follo^yed.  For  a  time  she  was 
the  largest  and  most  prosperous  state  in  the  world.  To  her 
capital  at  Si-an-fu  came  envoys  from  the  peoples  of  Eastern 
and  Central  Asia.  Merchants  were  to  be  met  there  from 
even  the  distant  Roman  empire,  and  Nestorian  and  Man- 
ichaean  missionaries  were  to  be  found  in  competition,  some- 
iTheSui  (589-619), 


24  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

times  not  altogether  unfriendly,  with  the  followers  of  Gau- 
tama. In  the  centuries  between  the  Han  and  the  T'ang 
dynasties,  Buddhism  had  become  extremely  popular  and 
it  was  but  to  be  expected  that  the  Chinese  should  desire 
to  propagate  it.  What  more  natural,  then,  than  that 
Buddhism  and  Chinese  culture  should  go  hand  in  hand  to 
outlying  states?  And  what  more  natural  than  that  Japan 
should  be  dazzled  by  the  splendor  of  its  great  neighbor  and 
under  the  impulse  of  contact  with  its  new  life  should  undergo 
a  transformation?  One  is  reminded  of  the  changes  wrought 
in  Japan  and  China  in  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  cen- 
turies by  contact  with  Western  peoples.  The  Christian 
missionary  and  the  merchant  and  diplomat  have  gone  hand 
in  hand;  the  nussionary,  as  a  rule  more  altruistic  and  daring 
-^han  the  others,  has  been  the  most  powerful  agent  of  Occi- 
dental culture  in  the  first  stages  of  intercourse. 

Buddhism  reached  Korea  in  the  second  half  of  the  fourth 
century  and  was  accepted  by  at  least  some  of  the  kingdoms 
into  which  the  peninsula  was  divided.  Southern  Korea 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  in  close  touch  with  Japan,  and  it  was 
only  a  question  of  time  until  the  Indian  faith  would  find  its 
way  across  the  intervening  straits  to  the  islands.  In  522, 
indeed,  a  Buddhist  monk  came  directly  from  China  to 
Japan;  he  met  with  little  response,  but  a  few  years  later, 
in  545  and  again  in  552,  the  king  of  a  Korean  state  ^  in 
close  alliance  with  Japan  sent  Buddhist  images  and  sacred 
books  to  the  emperor  in  Yamato  and  advised  the  adoption 
of  the  new  faith.  Buddhism  did  not  meet  with  immediate 
acceptance.  There  was,  as  might  be  expected,  a  party  of 
conservatives  who  wished  to  reject  it.  The  foreign  religion, 
however,  found  an  advocate  in  the  powerful  Soga  family. 
In  spite  of  pestilence  and  lightning  that  awakened  the  angry 

^  Kudara. 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  25 

fear  of  the  mob,  the  Soga  persisted  in  erecting  and  maintain- 
ing a  shrine  for  the  new  cult.  Riots  and  even  civil  war 
followed,  but  in  time  the  Soga  prevailed,  and  completely 
dominated  the  throne.  With  their  victory  the  success  of 
Buddhism  was  assured.  The  Prince  Imperial,  Shotoku, 
one  of  the  most  brilHant  leaders  Japan  has  produced,  was 
an  ally  of  the  Soga  and  an  ardent  disciple  of  the  bonzes 
from  the  continent.  The  imperial  court  fell  into  line.  Tem- 
ples were  built,  monasteries  were  erected,  and  large  num- 
bers of  men  and  women  of  noble  birth  renounced  the  world 
for  the  cloister.  There  were  at  various  intervals  during 
some  centuries  several  women  on  the  throne  who  aided  the 
progress  of  the  foreign  cult  by  their  fervor. 

CHINESE  AND   OTHER  CONTINENTAL  INFLUENCES   ON  JAPAN 

When  once  espoused  by  the  upper  classes  the  new  faith 
and  its  attendant  civilization  achieved  popularity  with  the 
masses.  As  in  the  nineteenth  century,  a  feeling  of  national 
pride  would  not  brook  any  charge  of  being  backward  in 
the  race  for  progress,  and  when  once  thoroughly  convinced 
that  China's  culture  was  superior,  the  Japanese  set  them- 
selves to  adopting  it  and  adapting  it  to  their  needs.  The 
process  was  hastened  as  the  years  went  by  and  the  brilliant 
T'ang  dynasty  was  established  and  became  the  master  of 
eastern  Asia.  The  T'ang  generals  by  the  conquest  of  Korea 
in  667  brought  the  civilization  of  the  continent  to  Japan's 
very  doors.  Missionaries,  merchants,  artisans,  and  scholars 
from  Korea  and  China  journeyed  to  the  islands.  Japanese 
visited  Si-an-fu,  some  of  them  as  students  supported  by 
the  government,  and  were  dazzled  by  its  wealth  and  splen- 
dor. Embassies  were  sent  to  the  Chinese  capital  and  came 
back  to  spread  its  fame.  Japan  was  being  swept  into  the 
life  of  the  Far  East  and  sought  to  conform  herself  to  it. 


26  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

The  transformation,  as  might  be  expected,  was  most 
marked  at  or  near  the  capital,  and  as  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  distant  rural  districts  were  the  slowest  to 
change.  The  entire  nation  was  involved,  however,  and  all 
phases  of  its  life  were  affected.  Naturally  enough.  Bud- 
dhism flourished.  Many  temples  were  erected.  Rich  and 
poor  took  the  vows  of  celibate  Buddhist  monks  and  large 
monastic  communities  came  into  existence.  Buddhist 
ethics  were  preached,  and  there  followed  a  greater  kind- 
liness in  manners  and  a  larger  respect  for  animal  life.  The 
idea  of  reincarnation  found  acceptance,  although  never  as 
fully  as  in  India.  Hinayana,  the  southern  form  of  Bud- 
dhism, at  first  predominated,  but  in  time  it  was  chiefly  the 
northern  form,  Mahayana,  that  prevailed  and  molded  the 
forms  of  faith.  The  stately  ritual  of  the  temple  services  was 
introduced,  and  mightily  impressed  the  Japanese,  for  until 
now  they  had  been  familiar  with  no  other  religious  cer- 
emonies than  the  simple  ones  connected  with  their  native 
cult.  The  elaborate  and  matured  philosophy  of  Buddhism 
had  opposed  to  it  no  organized  rival  system.  It  raised  and 
answered  questions  about  existence  and  the  divine  which 
seem  never  seriously  to  have  troubled  the  older  Japanese, 
and  hence  drew  attention  to  and  met  a  genuine  need. 

The  native  cult  was  not  abandoned.  In  later  years,  as  we 
shall  see,  belief  in  it  was  reconciled  with  the  acceptance  of 
the  new  religion  by  the  ingenious  theory  that  its  divinities 
were  incarnations  of  the  Buddha  and  of  Buddhist  saints. 
The  two  faiths  continued  to  exist  side  by  side  with  mutual 
tolerance.  Shinto  was  reenforced  and  to  a  slight  extent 
modified  by  Chinese  contributions;  its  reverence  for  the 
dead,  for  instance,  was  strengthened  by  contact  with 
Chinese  ancestor  worship. 

Chinese  writing  and  literature  achieved  popularity.    The 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  27 

Chinese  written  character  had  been  known,  as  we  have 
seen,  for  some  time,  but  its  use  had  been  confined  to  a 
comparatively  narrow  circle.  It  was  now  studied  more 
extensively,  although  for  years  the  common  people  and 
even  the  higher  classes  away  from  the  capital  did  not  use 
it.  The  task  of  adapting  it  to  Japanese  needs  was  no  light 
one.  The  two  languages,  Japanese  and  Chinese,  were  ap- 
parently entirely  unrelated.  One  was  polysyllabic,  the 
other  monosyllabic,  and  their  grammatical  constructions 
were  very  different.  The  Chinese  characters,  moreover, 
do  not  form  an  alphabet,  but  are  pictographs,  ideographs, 
and  phonograms.  Thus  \,  in  another  form  4  ,  is  man, 
and  was  originally  meant  to  represent  two  human  legs: 
?  or  t  is  hand,  and  was  in  the  beginning-/,  a  crude 
attempt  at  a  picture  of  the  five  digits;  -i  and  H  (mean- 
ing two)  combine  to  form  fl,  meaning  the  duties  between 
two  men  or  man  and  man,  and  rather  crudely  translated 
"benevolence."  Most  of  the  characters  are  phonograms. 
Thus  there  is  a  character  ^  now  pronounced  fu  and  mean- 
ing primarily  "to  brood  on  eggs."  Combined  with  A  it 
forms  ^  and  represents  another  word  also  pronounced 
fu  and  meaning  a  prisoner  of  war.  Combined  with  "***, 
meaning  grass,  it  forms  ^  which  represents  a  word  which 
is  also  pronounced  fu  and  means  the  inner  skin  of  a  kind 
of  water  plant.  And  these  examples  could  be  multiplied 
by  the  hundreds.  In  adapting  these  characters  to  Japa- 
nese use,  two  methods  could  be  employed.  They  could 
be  used  phonetically;  that  is,  a  Japanese  word  could  be 
reproduced  by  Chinese  characters  with  regard  not  to  their 
meaning,  but  merely  to  their  sound  in  Chinese.  Thus  the 
Japanese  word  for  mountain  is  yama.  It  could  be  written 
by  two  Chinese  characters  pronounced  ya  and  ma,  say 
for  example  ^  (ya),  a  particle  implying  doubt,  and  j^ 


28  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

{ma),  meaning  horse.  This,  however,  is  clumsy,  as  the 
Chinese  characters  do  not  suggest  the  idea,  and  there  are 
syllables  in  Japanese  for  which  there  exist  no  correspond- 
ing Chinese  sounds  or  characters.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Japanese  word  could  be  represented  by  the  Chinese  charac- 
ter having  the  same  meaning.  In  this  latter  way  the 
Chinese  word  itself  might  be  taken  over  into  the  lan- 
guage. Thus  yama  was  written  by  the  Chinese  character  ilj , 
meaning  mountain,  and  given  either  its  Japanese  pronun- 
ciation, yama,  or  its  Chinese  pronunciation,  shan  or  san. 
The  famous  volcano  Fuji  is  either  Fujiyama  or  Fujisan. 
Both  methods  of  adapting  the  Chinese  characters  were 
used  at  first  and  great  confusion  resulted,  but  the  estab- 
hshed  method  gradually  came  to  be  the  latter,  i.  e,,  em- 
plying  the  character  which  represented  not  the  Japanese 
^-^  sound  but  the  idea.  This  brought  into  the  Japanese  lan- 
guage many  new  words,  since  the  character  could  be  given 
either  its  Chinese  or  its  Japanese  pronunciation.  There 
also  came  into  the  language  many  new  ideas.  Chinese 
came  to  bear  much  the  same  relation  to  Japanese  that 
Latin  does  to  English.  The  feat  of  adapting  Chinese  was 
no  easy  one.  So  unrelated  were  the  two  languages  orig- 
inally that  it  was  probably  as  difficult  to  use  Chinese 
characters  to  write  Japanese  as  it  would  be  to  use  them  to 
write  English. 

With  the  written  character  came  Chinese  literature  in 
all  its  wealth — philosophy,  history,  poetry,  cosmogony, 
and  science.  It  was  the  accumulation  of  centuries  of  de- 
velopment. There  were  the  writings  not  only  of  Con- 
fucius, Mencius,  and  their  contemporaries,  of  Laotze  and 
the  early  Taoist  worthies,  but  the  rich  store  produced 
under  the  brilliant  Han  dynasty  and  the  new  flood  that 
was  issuing  from  the  facile  pens  of  the  T'ang  scholars.    It 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE     29 

was  on  the  whole  a  literature  as  able  and  as  rich  as  that 
which  came  down  to  northern  Europe  from  ancient  Greece 
and  Rome.  Under  its  influence  a  Japanese  literature 
began.  The  legends  and  stories  of  the  earlier  days  were 
recorded,  materials  that  later  entered  into  the  Kojiki  and 
the  Nihongi. 

With  the  language  and  literature  came  art.  Painting  and 
sculpture  had  reached  a  high  stage  of  perfection  in  China, 
first  under  the  Han  and  than  under  the  T'ang.  Buddhism 
had  brought  with  it  to  China  a  well  developed  iconography, 
combining  Indian,  Greek,  and  Central  Asiatic  elements. 
Under  its  stimulus  the  Chinese  genius  had  produced  works 
which  in  technique,  feeling,  and  insight  were  of  a  very  high 
order.  The  scanty  remnants  are  still  the  delight  of  lovers 
of  the  beautiful  in  all  nations.  The  latent  Japanese  genius 
was  aroused  by  the  examples  presented  and  began  to  pro- 
duce in  great  abundance  pictures  of  Gautama  and  of 
various  sacred  episodes.  Buddhist  statues  and  carvings 
were  imported;  architecture  became  prominent  for  the 
first  time;  Buddhist  temples  were  erected  on  the  model  of 
those  on  the  continent,  marked  contrasts  to  the  unpreten- 
tious buildings  that  had  done  for  the  Shinto  worship  and 
the  flimsy  structures  in  which  even  royalty  had  been  wont  to 
live.  Inspired  by  the  construction  of  temples,  better  and 
more  permanent  dwellings  were  erected  for  the  emperor 
and  the  nobility. 

Various  handicrafts  were  introduced  from  Korea  and 
China  and  the  Japanese  became  familiar  with  new  utensils 
and  implements,  with  better  textiles  and  industrial  methods. 
Chinese  medicine  and  military  science  were  brought  in. 
The  Chinese  calendar  was  formally  adopted.  Chinese 
costumes  were  introduced,  and  their  use  and  form  carefully 
regulated  by  law.    Roads  were  built,  probably  for  the  first 


30  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

time.  Communication  by  land  now  supplemented  that  by 
boats,  heretofore  the  chief  means  of  transportation.  Ship- 
building was  improved  and  commerce  grew.  A  system  of 
weights  and  measures  was  adopted.  The  importation  of 
the  precious  metals  stimulated  the  Japanese  to  open  mines 
of  their  own.  Silver  was  discovered  in  the  islands  and 
shortly  afterward,  copper.  With  the  working  of  native 
ores  came  the  minting  of  money.  In  the  early  years  of  the 
eighth  centiuy  the  first  true  coins  were  struck;  as  in  China 
they  were  mostly  of  copper. 

There  was  an  immigration  of  Koreans  and  Chinese. 
Some  of  course  were  Buddhist  missionaries,  drawn  partly  by 
zeal  and  partly  by  ambition.  Some  were  handicraftsmen. 
Others  were  merchants  who  were  interested  in  exploiting 
the  resources  of  the  newly  opened  islands.  Still  others  were 
scholars,  attracted  by  the  rewards  offered  by  the  court  and 
the  nobility  for  men  of  learning.  As  a  result,  an  infusion  of 
Korean  and  Chinese  blood  found  its  way  into  Japanese 
veins,  increasing  the  complexity  of  a  stock  that  was  already 
a  composite  of  several  races. 

There  were  great  social  transformations.  Wealth  in- 
creased and  with  it  the  difference  between  rich  and  poor 
was  accentuated.  A  greater  emphasis  was  laid  upon  agri- 
culture. The  Japanese  family  was  modified  and  strength- 
ened by  contact  with  Chinese  ideals,  which  were,  briefly, 
that  orderly  family  life  and  its  attendant  veneration  for 
^^ancestors  are  the  basis  of  society.  They  found  Japan  not 
entirely  unprepared  to  accept  them,  for  the  family  systems 
of  the  two  countries  were  fundamentally  the  same,  but  they 
greatly  strengthened  and  modified  existing  tendencies. 
Chinese  ethics,  an  outgrowth  of  the  family  system,  effected 
a  change  in  Japanese  moral  standards. 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  31 


THE  POLITICAL  CHANGES  DUE  TO  CONTACT  WITH  CHINA  AND 
THE   CONTINENT 

Especially  noteworthy  was  the  reorganization  which  took 
place  in  the  state.  Prince  Shotoku,  as  we  have  seen,  was  an ' 
ardent  advocate  of  the  new  religion.  He  was  equally  in 
favor  of  the  new  culture.  He  was  a  student  not  only  of 
Buddhism,  but  of  the  great  historic  classics  of  China,  the 
writings  of  Confucius  and  his  school,  and  was  an  eager  and 
intelligent  admirer  of  the  political  machinery  of  the  T'ang. 
It  was  due  partly  to  his  initiative  that  a  complete  reorgani- 
zation of  the  government  took  place.  In  604  he  issued  his^ 
"constitution"  in  seventeen  articles,  sonaetimes  called 
Japan's  first  written  code  of  laws.  This  was  not  an  elaborate 
legal  document,  however,  enumerating  specific  crimes  and 
prescribing  penalties,  but  an  attempt  to  apply  in  a  some- 
what general  way  Buddhist  and  Confucian  ethical  principles'^ 
to  official  life.  It  was  a  body  of  moraLmasnis  sent  out  as 
instructions  to  the  dignitaries  of  the  state  to  guide  them  in 
the  performance  of  their  duties.  Reverence  for  Buddhism 
and  loyalty  to  the  emperor  were  insisted  upon,  a  high 
standard  of  personal  rectitude  was  encouraged,  and  justice 
and  integrity  were  commanded  in  the  fulfillment  of  public 
duty.  In  645,^  after  the  death  of  Shotoku,  a  complete 
reorganization  of  the  state  took  place,  so  thorough  that  this 
date  may  be  regarded  as  the  time  when  the  real  revolution 
in  government  occurred.  Additional  reforms  followed  under 
succeeding  monarchs,  usually  along  the  lines  marked  out 
in  645,  for  over  a  period  of  nearly  a  century.    In  701,  for 

1  Under  the  emperor  Kotoku,  645-654.    They  are  known  as  the 
Daika  reforms. 


32  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

example/  a  revised  code  of  statutes  was  promulgated  which 
dealt  with  practically  all  phases  of  oflScial  life. 

The  changes  made  during  these  years  consisted  mainly 
in  an  attempt  to  adapt  to  Japan  the  governmental  system 
of  China.  The  process  was  revolutionary  and  not  alto- 
gether successful.  China  was  a  great  agricultural,  indus- 
trial, and  commercial  state  whose  organization  headed  up 
in  an  absolute  monarch  through  a  hierarchy  of  officials  care- 
fully chosen  by  competitive  civil  service  examinations. 
The  government  existed  in  theory  for  the  good  of  the 
people  and  was  interested  in  everything  pertaining  to  their 
welfare.  Now,  the  Japanese  were  a  military,  and  an  agricul- 
tural folk;  their  state  was  small  and  was  made  up  of  a 
cluster  of  principalities  imder  local  chieftains  loosely  ac- 
knowledging the  headship  of  a  hereditary  ruler  who  was 
supposed  to  be  descended  from  the  gods.  The  attempt  was 
made  to  reproduce  in  this  very  alien  surrounding  a  political 
organization  which  had  been  developed  to  meet  an  entirely 
different  set  of  needs.  Temporarily,  for  many  decades 
indeed,  it  seemed  to  succeed.  The  capital  was  located 
^permanently  at  Nara  in  Yamato,  and  was  not  as  formerly 
moved  on  the  death  of  each  sovereign.  At  Nara  a  city  was 
laid  out  on  the  plan  of  the  great  Chinese  capital,  Si-an-fu. 
Here  the  emperors  resided  from  709  to  ^84.  when  the  seat  of 
government  was  transferred  to  a  new  site,  the  present 
Kyoto,  ^  and  a  new  and  larger  city  was  built,  also  on  the 
lines  of  the  Chinese  prototype.  This  was  the  home  of  the 
emi>erors  until  the  nineteenth  century. 

*  Under  the  emperor  Mommu  (697-707).  The  codes  are  known  as 
the  Daiho  laws. 

*The  period  during  which  the  capital  was  at  Nara  (708-784)  is 
known  as  the  Nara  epoch,  and  the  first  few  centuries  at  Kyoto  are 
known  from  an  older  name  for  Kyoto  as  the  Hei-an  epoch  (794-1159). 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  33 

The  permanent  location  of  the  capital,  however,  came 
almost  at  the  culmination  of  a  series  of  changes  which 
entirely  altered  the  administration  of  the  kingdom.  The 
outstanding  feature  of  the  "reforms"  was  the  increase  in 
the  power  of  the  Japanese  monarch.  His  position  already 
had  much  of  sanctity  attached  to  it.  It  was  now  made 
even  more  commanding,  the  source  of  all  authority.  The 
adoption  of  the  Chinese  system,  in  fact,  seems  to  have  been 
made  under  astute  ministers  and  rulers  who  deliberately 
planned  to  use  it  to  strengthen  the  power  of  the  throne^ 
against  that  of  the  nobles,  and  to  eliminate  as  far  as  possible 
the  hereditary  principle  from  every  office  but  that  of  the 
monarch.  It  was  in  the  main  the  constitution  which  had 
been  evolved  in  China  in  the  victorious  struggle  of  the 
emperor  against  the  hereditary  local  princes.  One  of  the 
earhest  evidences  of  the  growing  authority  of  the  Japanese 
monarch  is  to  be  found  in  the  "constitution"  of  Prince 
Shotoku.  Still  further  proof  was  afforded  by  the  fall  of  the 
powerful  Soga  family,  an  integral  part  of  the  program  of 
the  reforms  of  645.  For  years  the  Soga  had  dominated 
successive  monarchs,  but  they  were  now  deposed,  and  less 
than  seventy  years  later  were  exterminated. 

It  must  be  added  that  the  Chinese  theory  of  imperial 
succession  was  not  accepted.  In  the  continental  empire 
the  monarch  was  believed  to  hold  his  office  by  virtue  of  the 
"Mandate  of  Heaven,"  and  if  the  ruling  house  proved  un- 
worthy that  mandate  might  be  withdrawn  and  given  to 
another.  Hence  rebellion  against  a  corrupt  dynasty  was 
justified,  and  family  followed  family  on  the  throne.  The 
position  was  sacred,  but  the  occupant  might  be  xmworthy, 
and  if  so,  he  could  be  removed.  The  Japanese  did  not  ac- 
cept this  theory.  In  fact,  the  reformers  emphasized  with 
renewed  force  the  sanctity  of  the  imperial  family,  and  its 


34  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

unbroken  descent  from  the  gods.  Rebellion  against  the 
throne  was  held  to  be  the  height  of  impiety.  A  change  of 
dynasty  would  have  been  utterly  abhorrent. 
^_„^A  di\dsien  between  civil  and  military  officials  was  made. 
No  longer  were  the  duties  of  the  soldier  and  the  adminis- 
trator to  be  combined  as  in  the  earlier  days,  when  the  nation 
was,  in  many  respects,  a  congeries  of  tribes  and  families 
rather  loosely  united  by  allegiance  to  the  royal  house,  but  a 
sharp  division  of  functions  was  introduced  on  the  model  of 
the  system  in  use  in  China.  A  hierarchy  of  civil  officials  was 
created  and  these  were  to  be  chosen  partly  on  the  basis  of 
>noble  blood,  and  partly  by  means  of  ci-sjl^service  examina- 
tions based  largely  on  the  classics  of  the  Confucian  cult. 
Capacity  for  administration  was  thus  measured,  as  on  the 
continent,  by  the  ability  to  produce  an  elegant  and  learned 
essay  in  Chinese.  To  prepare  candidates  schools  were 
^established  in  the  capital  and  the  provinces.  A  central 
ministry  of  eight  departments  was  organized,  after  the 
system  in  use  at  Si-an-fu.  Codes  of  laws  were  issued,  in- 
spired by  Chinese  models.  The  attempt  was  made  to  insure 
justice  for  every  member  of  the  body  politic,  even  to  the 
humblest.  Although  the  old  noble  families  were  retained, 
many  of  the  existing  social  gradations  were  abolished,  and 
a  new  division  of  classes  was  introduced.  All  Japanese, 
irrespective  of  rank,  were  to  be  subject  to  the  emperor  and 
to  his  courts  and  his  laws.  Any  might  freely  petition  the 
monarch  for  the  redress  of  grievances. 

Military  conscription  was  introduced,  again  under  the 
influence  of  the  continent.  From  a  third  to  a  fourth  of  the 
able-bodied  citizens  were  to  be  in  the  service  at  one  time. 

All  the  soil  was  appropriated  by  the  emperor.  A  few 
families  had  previously  been  monopolizing  most  of  the  land, 
reducing  the  mass  of  the  rural  population  to  a  condition  re- 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  35 

sembling  serfdom,  and  threatening  the  power  of  the  crown. 
State  ownership  was  now  asserted,  the  land  was  redivided, 
and  each  man  and  woman  was  given  a  share.  To  prevent 
the  soil  from  being  engrossed  again  by  a  few  landowners  and 
to  allow  for  the  growth  of  population,  a  redistribution  of  the 
fields  was  to  take  place  every  six  years.  Tracts  of  land  were 
allotted  to  officials,  whose  salaries  were  to  be  paid  by  the 
income  from  their  estates  and  not  by  exactions  from  the 
peasants.  Forced  labor  was  reorganized  and  was  to  be 
partly  commuted  for  taxes  in  farm  produce.  A  premium 
was  put  on  reclamation  by  granting  a  larger  degree  of 
private  ownership  in  lands  acquired  through  it;  the  Japan- 
ese stm  occupied  only  a  part  of  the  surface  of  the  islands  and 
expansion  must  be  encouraged.  The  system  of  taxation  was 
made  over:  officials  were  for  the  most  part  exempt,  but  an 
effort  was  made  to  effect  an  equable  levy  upon  the  people  at 
large. 

The  entire  population  was  divided  somewhat  on  Chinese 
lines  into  groups  made  up  of  five  households  each,  and  into 
larger  units  of  fifty  households.  These  groups  were  for 
purposes  of  police  and  mutual  defense.  In  true  Chinese 
style  the  collective  responsibility  of  a  group  for  the  conduct 
of  each  of  its  members  was  insisted  upon.  The  criminal 
code  of  the  great  continental  empire  was  taken  over,  al- 
though in  a  modified  form,  and  for  more  than  a  century  was 
the  standard  by  which  Japanese  cases  were  tried. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  these  innovations  in  ad- 
ministration wrought  by  contact  with  the  culture  of  the 
continent  were  not  as  sudden  as  this  brief  summary  might 
lead  one  to  believe.  They  were  embodied  in  various  codes 
which  embrace  a  period  covering  most  of  the  seventh  and 
part  of  the  eighth  century.  The  modification  of  national 
life  under  the  influence  of  intercourse  with  the  mainland 


36  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

was  the  predominant  fact  in  Japan's  history  from  the  middle 
of  the  sixth  to  late  in  the  eighth  century.  It  recurred,  al- 
though at  long  intervals  and  with  less  prominence,  until  the 
coming  of  the  Europeans  in  the  nineteenth  century,  every 
new  burst  of  culture  in  China  making  itself  felt  in  Japan. 
By  the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  however,  the  T'ang 
dynasty  had  begun  to  weaken  and  the  brilliancy  of  its 
culture  had  become  dimmed.  China  for  the  time  could  not 
exert  as  strong  an  influence  as  she  had  under  the  earlier 
monarchs  of  that  house. 


JAPANESE  MODIFICATIONS  OF  FOREIGN  CULTURE 

It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  the  Japanese  were  not  blind 
imitators.  As  in  the  nineteenth  century,  they  were  eager 
to  take  from  foreign  civilizations  what  seemed  suited  to 
their  needs.  They  were  keenly  sensitive  and  feared  so 
greatly  the  epithet  "barbarian"  that  they  exerted  every 
effort  to  equal  in  culture  the  most  advanced  peoples  with 
whom  they  were  acquainted.  From  the  very  first,  however, 
they  tried  to  adapt  what  they  borrowed  to  the  needs  of 
their  peculiar  situation,  and  as  time  went  on  they  more  and 
more  modified  what  they  had  received  and  were  stimulated 
to  make  contributions  of  their  own.  They  began  thinking 
for  themselves  in  matters  of  religion,  and  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighth  and  the  early  part  of  the  ninth  centuries,  the 
Tendai  and  the  Shingon  sects  arose,  each  based  on  ideas 
introduced  from  China,  but  owing  its  introduction  and 
much  of  its  form  to  a  Japanese.  Tendai  attempted  to 
reform  the  current  Buddhism  chiefly  by  introducing  a  more 
nearly  perfect  philosophy  and  a  greater  asceticism.  It 
made  salvation  possible,  not  after  numbers  of  reincarnations 
through  umneasurable  periods  of  time,  but  here  and  now  by 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  37 

a  knowledge  of  the  Buddha  nature  that  could  be  acquired 
through  wisdom.  It  was  also  marked  by  an  elaborate 
hierarchy.  Its  founder,  one  Saicho  (known  to  posterity  as 
Dengyo  Daishi),  lived  from  767  to  822.  He  spent  many 
years  in  China  studying  the  parent  sect,  and  oii  returning 
to  Japan  became  very  popular.  Shingon  introduced  an 
esoteric  system  of  faith  and  conduct,  teaching  three  great 
secret  laws  regarding  body,  speech,  and  thought.  These 
three  secrets  had  to  do  with  proper  postures,  magic  for- 
mulae, and  prayers,  and  helped  make  possible  a  communion 
with  the  deities  and  union  with  the  Infinite.  It  resembled 
the  Gnosticism  of  the  early  Christian  centuries  of  the  West, 
with  which,  indeed,  some  have  attempted  to  establish  a 
historic  connection.  Its  founder,  Kukai,  known  to  posterity 
as  Kobo  Daishi,  was  a  contemporary  of  Saicho.  Like  the 
latter,  he  visited  China  and  there  learned  the  principles  of 
the  sect  that  he  later  propagated  in  his  native  land.  He 
was  famous  in  his  generation  as  saint,  artist,  and  calligra- 
pher. 

The  use  of  the  Chinese'  written  character  was  made 
easier  by  introducing  syllabic  signs,  the  Katagana  (square 
forms)  and  the  Hiragana  (script  forms),  which  were  simpler 
to  learn  and  helped  to  make  the  written  language  conform 
more  nearly  to  the  vernacular  than  it  had  in  its  purely 
Chinese  dress.  They  are  in  use  to  this  day  and  are  familiar 
to  all  who  have  ever  glanced  at  Japanese  papers  or  books. 
Native  schools  of  art  and  hterature  were  developed.  Even 
the  administrative  machinery  was  not  a  blind  copy  but  an 
attempt  at  intelligent  eclecticism. 

The  new  system  of  administration  had  no  sooner  been 
completed  than  it  began  to  reveal  a  growing  discrepancy 
with  real  conditions.  This  was  partly  because  the  adapta- 
tion of  Chinese  models  to  the  local  situation  had  not  been 


38  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

perfect:  the  attempt  to  transfer  institutions  which  had 
been  devised  to  meet  entirely  different  conditions,  unless 
most  carefully  done,  could  not  fail  to  end  in  disaster.  There 
were  three  outstanding  results:  the  control  of  the  monarchy 
by  the  Fujiwara  family  through  a  series  of  regencies,  the 
rise  of  a  kind  of  feudalism,  and  the  growth  of  a  mihtary 
class  in  numbers  and  power,  culminating  in  its  control  of 
the  government. 

SUPREMACY  AND  DECLINE   OF  FUJIWARA  FAMILY 

v/  The  Fujiwara  family,  next  to  that  of  the  emperor  the  most 
illustrious  in  Japan,  claims  for  itself  divine  origin.  As  early 
as  the  seventh  century  it  had  begun  extensively  to  lay  its 
hands  on  the  government.  Its  founder,  the  high-minded 
and  able  Kamalajri,  had  laid  the  foundation  for  its  greatness 
by  his  part  in  the  reforms  of  645.  As  the  strong  emperors 
who  helped  in  the  great  reorganization  of  the  administra- 
tion were  succeeded  by  weak  ones,  the  Fujiwara  clan 
gradually  tightened  its  hold  in  the  government.  It  assumed 
but  few  military  positions,  for  these  by  the  borrowed 
Chinese  standards  were  held  to  be  socially  inferior,  but 
gradually  obtained  most  of  the  important  civil  ofl&ces  for 
the  possession  of  its  scions.  These  held  the  chief  governor- 
ships of  the  provinces  and  the  leading  positions  at  court. 
The  plan  of  choosing  the  members  of  the  civil  bureaucracy 
that  was  in  use  in  China  had  never  been  applied  in  its 
entirety  to  Japan,  and  the  reformers  of  645  had  filled  the 
ofl&ces  partly  from  the  noble  families.  Even  as  much  of  the 
continental  system  as  had  been  adopted  was  gradually  al- 
lowed to  fall  into  disuse.  The  theory  of  short  tenure,  which 
prevented  an  oflEice  from  being  monopolized  by  any  one 
person  or  family,  was  little  by  httle  ignored.    The  terms  of 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  39 

office  were  first  lengthened,  then  reappointments  were  al- 
lowed, and  eventually  the  various  positions  were  held  for 
life  and  transmitted  to  the  occupants'  heirs.  The  Fujiwara 
filled  the  bureaucracy  with  its  own  members  and  made  the 
offices  hereditary,  so  that  the  institutions  designed  to 
weaken  the  power  of  the  nobles  and  to  strengthen  the 
position  of  the  monarch  were  used  to  defeat  their  own  ob- 
ject. The  Fujiwara,  as  imperial  councilors,  had  the  priv- 
ilege of  opening  all  petitions  before  they  were  handed  to  the 
throne.  They  saw  to  it  that  the  emperors'  consorts  were 
chosen  from  their  own  women,  and  that  heirs  to  the  throne 
were  selected  only  from  among  sons  of  Fujiwara  mothers. 
Even  to-day  the  empress  is  one  of  the  family,  as  have  been 
most  of  her  predecessors  for  more  than  a  thousand  years. 
Members  of  the  clan  were  finally  appointed  regent  ^  and 
in  all  but  name  became  the  rulers  of  the  kingdom.  The 
family  never,  it  is  true,  sought  to  usurp  the  throne;  they 
rather  sought  to  elevate  its  nominal  dignity.  But  as  the 
position  became  more  sacred  they  saw  to  it  that  its  occu- 
pant had  less  and  less  to  say  in  matters  of  actual  govern- 
ment. Finally,  as  soon  as  an  emperor  reached  an  age  at 
which  he  might  conceivably  assert  himself  he  was  forced 
to  take  the  vows  of  a  Buddhist  monk  and  retire  to  the 
cloister,  to  make  way  for  a  minor  who  could  ofTer  no  opposi- 
tion to  Fujiwara  ambitions.  There  frequently  were  several 
such  ex-emperors  Uving  at  one  time. 

This  Fujiwara  supremacy  was  not  attained  without  a 
struggle,  for  from  time  to  time  the  monarchs  asserted  them- 
selves. Thus  the  emperor  Kwammu  (782-805),  one  of  the 
most  vigorous  of  the  wearers  of  the  imperial  crown,  removed  ^  • 
the  capital  from  Nara  to  the  present  Kyoto  (794),  appars'-^P'^ 
ently  in  an  attempt  to  free  the  court  from  the  traditions  of 
^  The  ojEcial  title  of  this  office  was  Kwambaku. 


40  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

luxury  and  royal  impotence  that  had  begun  to  associate 
themselves  with  the  older  city,  and  also  possibly  in  the 
hope  that  by  placing  the  capital  more  nearly  in  the  center 
of  the  Japanese  state  he  might  more  effectively  control  its 
administration.  Another  ^  from  the  vantage  of  his  re- 
tirement in  a  monastery  sought  to  direct  the  affairs  of  the 
nation  through  the  infant  puppets  that  were  set  up  in  his 
stead.  Occasionally  other  families  sought  to  wrest  from  the 
Fujiwara  their  power. 

The  descendants  of  the  great  Kamatari  were  not  to  be 
deprived  of  their  offices.  The  high  posts  at  the  court  con- 
tinued to  be  filled  by  them  until  the  end  of  the  old  system 
in  the  nineteenth  century.  They  were,  however,  rendered 
impotent  by  the  introduction  of  a  form  of  government  by 

^4he  military  class.  The  Fujiwara  were  left  in  the  possession 
of  their  titles  but  they  were  to  become  powerless  in  the 
provinces  and  in  all  but  the  immediate  entourage  of  the 
imperial  court.  This  change  was  brought  about  by  a  grad- 
ual evolution  which  was  partly  the  result  of  the  weakness 
of  the  system  that  the  Fujiwara  themselves  had  created, 
and  partly  of  the  growth  in  power  of  the  military  class. 
The  period  of  Fujiwara  supremacy  was  one  of  great  luxury'.' 
The  court  at  Nara  and  Kyoto  was  maintained  on  a  most 

y  expensive  scale.  Elaborate  palaces  were  built  and  a  costly 
standard  of  living  was  maintained.  The  court  nobility  gave 
themselves  over  to  writing  poetic  couplets,  to  flower  fes- 
tivals, love  intrigues,  gambling,  and  the  refinements  of  a 
beauty-loving  but  sensual  existence.  Many  arts  and 
pastimes  were  developed,  partly  on  Chinese  models,  and 
were  the  basis  of  much  of  that  beauty  and  refinement  that 

*  Shirakawa  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  Two  other 
emperors  who  became  notably  restive  under  Fujiwara  dictation  were 
Daigo  (898-930)  and  Sanjo  (1012-1017). 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  41 

were  to  be  so  much  admired  by  westerners  who  saw  Japan 
in  the  early  nineteenth  century.  Exquisite  fabrics  were 
produced,  and  fine  paintings  and  carvings  appeared.  Ar- 
chitecture was  improved:  palaces  and  temples  were  built 
in  profusion.  Music  was  perfected.  The  position  of  dancing 
girls  arose  almost  to  the  dignity  of  a  profession.  Festivals 
for  viewing  the  flowers,  for  gazing  at  the  newly  fallen  snow, 
for  enjoying  the  moonlight,  were  introduced.  Great  sums 
of  money  were  spent  on  Buddhist  temples  and  monasteries 
and  on  elaborate  rehgious  exercises.  Huge,  costly  metal 
images  became  the  rage.  At  times  half  or  more  of  the 
revenue  of  the  state  was  spent  for  religious  purposes.  As 
the  effeminacy  and  moral  degeneracy  of  the  court  increased 
its  devotion  to  religious  exercises  was  intensified.  Bud- 
dhism was  never  more  popular.  So  powerful  did  the  priest- 
hood become  that  it  is  of  record  that  one  Buddhist  monk  ^ 
became  the  paramour  of  the  empress  ^  who  at  that  time  sat 
alone  on  the  throne,  and  aspired  to  become  monarch. 

The  court  and  its  masters,  the  Fujiwara,  were  gradually 
losing  control  of  the  provinces  and  of  all  but  the  districts 
around  the  capital.  Taxes  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  court 
and  especially  of  the  Buddhist  church  reached  enormous 
proportions.  The  cost  of  government  was  increased  by  the 
necessity  of  administering  the  additional  territories  occupied 
by  the  expanding  nation.  The  expenses  of  administration 
were  augmented  without  a  corresponding  increment  in  the 
revenue,  and  the  growing  burden  of  taxation  fell  more  and 
more  upon  a  few  of  the  peasantry.  A  system  of  estates 
immune  from  taxation  and  virtually  free  from  the  control 
of  the  machinery  of  the  capital  was  slowly  forming,  re- 
sembling in  time  the  feudalism  of  the  European  middle 
ages.  By  the  reforms  of  645  the  arable  land  of  the  country 
1  Dokyo.  » Shotoku  (765-770). 


42  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

was  to  be  redivided  among  the  people  at  stated  intervals. 
For  a  while  this  plan  was  fairly  well  carried  out.  As  time 
passed,  however,  it  fell  into  abeyance.  The  nation  was  ex- 
panding to  the  north  and  west,  and  most  of  the  land  that 
was  reclaimed  on  the  frontiers  gradually,  either  by  the  direct 
grant  or  through  the  weakness  of  the  central  government, 
came  to  be  held  in  perpetuity.  As  the  nation  grew,  these 
reclaimed  lands  eventually  formed  the  larger  part  of  its 
area.  Then  for  meritorious  services  or  because  of  some 
special  influence  at  court,  individuals  would  be  given  es- 

/tates  to  hand  down  to  their  descendants.  Large  tracts 
were  similarly  held  by  temples  and  monasteries  as  a  per- 
manent possession.  Occasional  edicts  attempted  to  revive 
the  periodical  redistribution  of  lands,  but  failed  to  work  a 
lasting  cure.  Owners  of  estates  frequently  extended  then- 
domains  by  forcibly  annexing  adjoining  lands.  The  estates 
held  in  perpetuity  were,  too,  as  a  rule  partly  or  entirely 
exempt  from  taxation  and  the  control  of  the  representatives 
of  the  central  government.  This  exemption  was  at  first 
largely  confined  to  temple  lands  and  estates  specifically 
granted  by  the  government,  and  was  recognized  by  formal 
charters,  but  in  time  it  came  to  apply  to  all  of  the  estates. 
For  protection  against  disorder,  or  to  escape  taxation, 
many  smaller  landowners  surrendered  their  holdings  to  the 
more  powerful  lords  and  monasteries  andf  received  them 

/back  as  fiefs,  a  custom  almost  exactly  corresponding  to 
"commendation"  in  feudal  Europe.  Thus  in  time  most  of 
the  area  of  the  nation  was  comprised  in  great,  immune 
estates  and  was  practically  lost  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Kyoto  government.  A  governor  often  found  that  only  one 
per  cent,  or  less  of  the  land  of  his  provinces  was  subject  to 
him,  and  so  did  not  leave  the  capital  to  proceed  to  his  post. 
Finally  the  vast  majority  of  the  landowners,  great  and  small, 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  43 

in  all  the  provinces  but  those  nearest  to  Kyoto  were  bound 
to  the  central  power  only  by  a  formal  allegiance  to  the 
emperor.  They  levied  their  own  taxes,  quarreled  and 
fought  with  each  other,  and  administered  a  rude  justice 
without  reference  to  the  Fujiwara-controlled  court.  By 
the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  the  central  government  was 
ready  to  collapse.  Brigandage  and  military  service  became 
the  only  refuges  from  the  intolerable  taxation  laid  by  the 
court  on  the  lands  that  were  not  in  the  manors,  and  robbers 
openly  infested  even  the  streets  of  the  capital. 

FEUDAL  STRUGGLE  FOR  CONTROL  OF  THE  EMPIRE 

During  the  centuries  that  the  Fujiwara  were  making 
themselves  supreme  at  court,  warrior  families  were  strength- 
ening themselves  in  the  outlying  provinces,  especially  in  the 
north,  and  a  military  class  was  appearing.  In  the  reforms 
of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  the  attempt  was  made 
to  establish  universal  responsibility  for  military  service, 
but  this  proved  a  failure.  With  the  decline  of  the  power  of 
the  central  government,  and  the  growth  of  disorder,  the 
proprietors  of  the  great  tax-free  estates  were  forced  to  de- 
pend on  their  retainers  for  police  purposes  and  for  aid 
against  their  neighbors.  On  these  estates,  then,  there  were 
to  be  found  professional  warriors  who  were  recruited  partly 
from  the  police,  partly  from  the  lords'  own  retainers,  partly 
from  wanderers  from  sections  where  the  conditions  of  life 
had  become  intolerable,  and  partly  from  adventurous  fel- 
lows for  whom  no  career  was  open  at  home.  These  profes- 
sional warriors  gradually  came  to  be  controlled  by  a  new 
nobility,  purely  military  and  feudal,  and  quite  distinct  from 
the  older  civil  nobility  that  had  its  center  at  Kyoto.  This 
military  nobility  was  founded  by  members  ofdie  imperial 


44  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

family  who,  for  reasons  that  need  not  here  detain  us,  had 
assumed  new  family  names  and  had  become  nobles  of  in- 
ferior rank.  They  had  sought  their  fortunes  away  from 
the  capital,  in  the  provinces,  as  local  oflScials  and  as  man- 
agers of  the  estates  that  were  held  by  the  absentee  civil 
nobility.  As  years  passed  they  became  the  actual  masters  of 
the  estates  they  managed,  or  of  new  estates,  and  the  leaders 
of  the  warriors  who  formed  the  only  source  of  protection 
in  the  midst  of  the  general  disorder.  The  strongest  of  these 
estates  were  in  the  west,"  where  new  lands  were  being  re- 
claimed, and  in  the  nortlt,  where  a  long  war  of  expulsion 
was  being  waged  with  the  aborigines.  All  these  estates  were 
far  removed  from  the  demoralizing  luxury  of  the  court,  and 
by  constant  fighting  among  themselves  and  with  the  Ainu,  . 
a  military  class  was  developed,  inured  to  hardship,  loyal  to 
its  leaders,  and  paying  but  scanty  respect  to  the  fashionable 
fops  who  directed  affairs  at  the  capital.  The  warriors,  or 
bushi  as  they  were  called,  became  in  time  a  hereditary 

^'Caste,  closed  to  outsiders.  They  possessed  an  ethical  code 
all  their  own,  the  basis  of  the  later  rather  elaborate  bushido 
("way  of  the  bushi")  of  which  we  are  to  hear  more  later. 

With  the  decay  of  the  administrative  system  controlled 
by  the  Fujiwara  it  was  only  a  question  of  time  until  the 
military  chiefs  should  struggle  for  the  mastery  of  the  em- 
pire. The  two  outstanding  soldier  families  were  the  Taira 
and  the  Minamoto,l)oth  claiming  descent  from  cadet  mem- 
bers of  the  imperial  family  and  both  made  strong  by  long 
residence  on  the  frontier.  Generally  speaking,  the  Taira 
led  in  the  south  and  west,  the  Minamoto  in  the  north  and 
east,  near  the  present  Tokyo. 

^^^ About  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  the  disintegra- 
tion at  Kyoto  could  no  longer  be  concealed.  The  Buddhist 
monasteries  cind  Shinto  fanes  erected  by  the  gifts  of  many 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  45 

pious  generations  had  some  of  them  become  the  abode  of 
armed  monks  and  the  refuge  of  desperadoes.  They  ter- 
rorized the  weakened  capital  until  the  strong  military 
chiefs  of  the  provinces  were  called  in  by  the  distressed 
court  to  restore  peace.  Nothing  loath,  the  Taira  and 
Minamoto  quickly  responded.  The  warUke  monks  were 
put  down,  and  then  court  intrigues  and  rivalries  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Fujiwara  led  to  civil  stdf e  which  gave  the  two 
great  soldier  families  further  reason  for  interference. 
Finally  the  Taira  and  Minamoto  fell  to  fighting  for  the 
control  of  the  capital  and  the  person  of  the  emperor.  So 
strong  was  the  reverence  for  the  past  and  for  the  imperial 
family  that  no  one  thought  of  usurping  the  throne  or  even 
the  office  of  regent,  for  this  last  had  been  held  traditionally 
by  the  Fujiwara.  The  military  chiefs,  however,  did  seek  to 
place  themselves  so  firmly  in  control  that  the  emperor  and 
court  nobility,  while  retaining  their  ancient  titles,  could  not 
hope  to  exert  an  appreciable  influence  on  the  administra- 
tion. 

In  the  long  civil  wars  which  followed,^  the  Taira  were 
first  victorious  and  estabhshed  themselves  in  Kyoto.  Their 
leader,  Kiyomori,  became  prime  minister  and  virtual  ruler  of 
Japan.  He  killed  the  leader  of  the  Minamoto,  Yoshitomo, 
and  exterminated  as  far  as  possible  all  other  members  of 
that  family  who  seemad  to  give  promise  of  seriously  con- 
testing his  power.  A  few  escaped,  principal  among  whom 
were  Yoritomo  and  Yoshitsune,  two  sons  of  Yoshitomo  by 
different  mothers.  Yoritomo  was  spared  because  of  his 
beauty  and  extreme  youth  and  lived  an  obscure  life  of 
exile  until  he  reached  maturity.  Yoshitsune's  mother 
bought  the  Ufe  of  her  three  sons  by  becoming  the  mistress  of 

*  They  lasted  for  about  fifty  years  and  cover  the  period  known  as 
the  Gempei  era  (11 59-1 199). 


46  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Kiyomori.  All  three  boys  were  brought  up  in  monasteries. 
The  future  of  two  of  them  does  not  concern  us,  but  Yo- 
shitsune  is  a  name  to  be  remembered,  for  he  is  regarded  by 
Japanese  as  their  greatest  military  captain.  Kiyomori, 
after  the  defeat  of  his  enemies,  exercised  an  almost  despotic 
power  and  became  extremely  arrogant.  He  was  not  a 
political  genius  of  the  first  rank,  however,  and  failed  to 
organize  the  empire  in  a  way  that  would  prevent  the  recur- 
rence of  such  disorders  as  had  brought  him  into  power. 
He  died  in  1180  and  Yoritomo  and  Yoshitsune,  now  in  the 
flush  of  vigorous  manhood,  raised  the  Minamoto  banner. 
They  were  reenforced  by  an  independent  insurrection  led 
by  a  cousin,  Yoshinaka.  Five  years  of  war  followed.  The 
two  brothers  championed  an  ex-emperor  who  wished  to  be 
restored  to  the  throne,  while  the  Taira  retained  possession 
of  the  puppet  child-monarch.  Yoshitsune  was  the  brilliant 
military  leader  and  the  idol  of  the  Minamoto  forces; 
Yoritomo  was  a  crafty,  able  organizer,  and  was  by  force  of 
character  as  well  as  birthright  the  head  of  the  family.  The 
Taira  were  driven  out  of  Kyoto  after  a  stubborn  resistence, 
and  were  defeated  in  a  memorable  engagement  near  the 
present  Kobe.  They  retired  eastward  and  a  final  decisive 
battle  was  fought  in  the  Straits  of  Shimonoseki.  Here  the 
Taira  forces  were  overwhehned:  Kiyomori's  widow,  scorning 
capture,  cast  herself  into  the  sea  and  carried  to  death  in  her 
arms  the  boy-emperor.  Only  a  small  remnant  escaped,  to 
live  as  outlaws  in  the  fastnesses  of  Kiushiu.  The  exploits 
of  the  heroes  of  these  memorable  years  have  ever  since  been 
the  delight  of  the  story-tellers  of  the  nation  and  are  re- 
counted to  the  admiring  youth  of  each  succeeding  genera- 
tion. After  the  final  defeat  of  the  Taira,  the  popularity  of 
Yoshitsune  aroused  the  apprehensions  of  Yoritomo. 
Yoshinaka  had  already  been  treacherously  led  into  dis- 


FROM  BUDDHISM  TO  THE  SHOGUNATE  47 

loyalty  and  had  been  disposed  of.  Yoritomo  now  trumped 
up  a  charge  of  treason  and  ordered  Yoshitsune's  execution. 
The  latter  fled,  but  was  betrayed,  and  committed  suicide 
rather  than  be  killed  by  his  heartless  brother.  Yoritomo 
was  supreme. 

For  further  reading  see:  Griffis,  The  Mikado's  Empire;  the 
Kojiki  and  Nihongi;  Lloyd,  The  Creed  of  Half  Japan;  Brinkley, 
Japan,  Its  History,  Arts  and  Literature;  Brinkley,  A  History  of  the 
Japanese  People;  Davis,  Japan  from  the  Age  of  the  Gods  to  the 
Fall  of  Tsingtao;  Asakawa,  The  Early  Institutional  Life  of  Japan; 
Longford,  The  Story  of  Old  Japan. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Shogunate:  from  its  Foundation  (it 92)  to  the 
Accession  of  Iyeyasu  (1603) 

organization  of  the  bakufu 

It  now  became  the  difficult  task  of  Yoritomo  to  organize 
the  power  he  had  wrested  from  the  Taira  in  such  a  way  that 
it  would  remain  in  the  hands  of  his  family.  He  placated  the 
powerful  Buddhist  monks  and  restored  to  the  civil  nobility 
lands  which  had  been  lost  during  the  long  wars.  He  did  not 
attempt  to  usurp  the  imperial  throne,  nor  even  to  remove 
the  Fujiwara  nobility  from  their  offices.  He  preserved  the 
court  at  Kyoto  with  its  old  offices  and  nominally  with  its 
*^tithority.  It  was  still  in  theory  the  source  of  all  power  in 
the  state,  and  it  was  encouraged  to  maintain  its  ceremonies. 
Yoritomo  made  it  innocuous,  however,  by  establishing  side 
by  side  with  the  older  civil  officialdom  a  military  adminis- 
tration owing  allegiance  to  himself.  With  imperial  sanction, 
he  appointed,  in  all  the  provinces,  military  constables  ^  and 
in  most  districts  and  private  estates  military  tax-collectors.^ 
These  constables  and  tax-collectors  were  Yoritomo's  own 
vassals,  owing  allegiance  to  him.  They  did  not  displace 
the  regular  local  officials  appointed  by  the  civil  government 
at  Kyoto,  but  shared  and  eclipsed  their  authority  and 
transacted  official  business  with  greater  promptness  and 
efficiency.  Taxes  were  levied  on  all  lands  but  those  of  the 
religious  orders:  the  great  estates  of  secular  princes  were 
not,  as  during  the  later  years  of  the  Fujiwara,  exempted 

*  Called  shugo.  *  Called  jito. 

48 


THE  SHOGUNATE  49 

from  these  burdens.  This  military  organization  was  called 
the  Bakufu,  literally  "camp  office."  Yoritomo  was,  of 
course,  its  head,  and  in  1192  was  given  the  title  of  "sei-i-tai- 
shogun,"  or  "great  barbarian-subduing  general,"  a  title 
usually  abbreviated  into  "shogun."  Strictly  speaking  the 
word  "shogim,"  meaning  simply  "general,"  was  not  new 
but  had  for  some  time  been  a  common  appellation  for 
military  officers  of  the  highest  rank.  The  center  of  the 
bakufu  Yoritomo  did  not  leave  at  Kyoto,  but  removed  to 
the  north  to  Kamakura,  not  far  from  the  present  Tokyo, 
where  he  established  a  separate  capital.  Kamakura  was 
remote  from  the  contaminating  luxury  of  Kyoto,  which  had 
proved  so  disastrous  to  the  Fujiwara  and  even  to  the 
Taira  chief,  and  from  the  intrigues  of  the  court  nobility. 
It  was  also  nearer  the  military  principalities  of  the  north  on 
whose  support  the  Minamoto  primarily  depended.  Thus 
there  came  to  be  two  administrative  systems,  the  one  civil, 
the  other  military,  each  with  its  own  hierarchy  of  officials, 
and  each  with  its  capital.  The  military,  of  course,  pre- 
dominated, although  theoretically  it  was  subordinate  to 
the  civil,  and  the  shogun  acted  only  as  the  deputy  of  the 
emperor.  Of  the  elaborate  organization  copied  from 
China  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  only  the  impotent 
forms  remained.  Yoritomo  must  be  ranked  as  one  of  the 
greatest  political  geniuses  of  his  nation,  for  with  varying 
vicissitudes  and  with  only  a  brief  interruption  the  dual 
form  of  government  that  he  inaugurated  endured  essen- 
tially unaltered  iintil  past  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  a  period  of  more  than  six  and  a  half  centuries. 
Had  Japan  been  as  seriously  menaced  by  outside  enemies 
as  was  China,  however,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the 
divided  authority  of  the  system  would  have  proved  dis- 
astrous. 


50  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Yoritomo's  descendants  were  unable  long  to  retain  the 
control  of  the  machinery  that  he  had  so  carefully  put  in 
operation.  His  house  speedily  suffered  the  fate  that  had 
befallen  both  the  imperial  and  the  Fujiwara  families.  His 
son  proved  incompetent  and  the  real  power  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Hojo  family,  from  which  had  come  the  consort 
of  the  first  shogun.  The  able  head  of  that  house  ^  had 
helped  in  the  establishment  of  the  bakufu.  He  and  his 
treacherous  son  ^  by  subtle  intrigues  succeeded  in  killing 
the  heirs  of  Yoritomo  or  reduced  them  to  mere  puppets. 
The  HoJo  themselves  never  usurped  the  shogunate,  out- 
wardly retaining  for  the  position  the  same  reverence  that 
the  Fujiwara  had  observed  toward  the  institution  of  the 
emperor.  The  office  was  kept  in  the  hands  of  minors,  how- 
ever, whose  retirement  was  forced  when  they  approached 
maturity.  At  first  the  office  was  reserved  for  the  heirs  of 
Yoritomo,  but  as  his  direct  line  died  out,  yoimg  scions  of 
the  Fujiwara  or  of  the  imperial  family  were  appointed. 
The  heads  of  the  Hojo  were  content  with  the  title  of 
"regent"  ^  and  with  the  substance  of  power.  This  latter 
they  wielded  with  relentless  energy  and  controlled  emperors 
and  shoguns  with  an  iron  hand.  When,  early  in  the  history 
of  their  rule,  an  ex-emperor  ^  attempted  to  assert  his  au- 
thority and  end  the  dual  government,  he  was  ruthlessly 
defeated,  the  ruling  emperor  was  forced  into  a  monastery, 
and  the  Hojo  appointed  one  of  their  number  as  military 
governor  of  Kyoto,  thereafter  controlling  the  imperial  suc- 
cession at  will.  Never  had  the  royal  house  been  treated 
with  such  scant  ceremony.  The  period  of  the  Hojo 
domination  is  known  by  their  name  and  lasted  from  1199 
to  1333. 

'  Hojo  Tokimasa.  » Shikken. 

*Hojo  Yoshitoki.  *Go-Toba,  in  1221. 


THE  SHOGUNATE  51 

THE  HO  JO  ERA 

The  Hojo  era,  in  spite  of  civil  strife  and  military  rule, 
was  not  without  progress  in  culture  and  art.  New  sects 
of  Buddhism  arose,  the  expression  of  fresh  needs  and  of 
originality  in  rehgious  thinking.  Like  the  earlier  divisions 
of  Buddhism  that  we  have  mentioned,  all  but  one  of  these 
had  their  origin  outside  Japan  and  were  brought  in  from 
China.  They  were  modified,  however,  by  their  Japanese 
adherents.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century  the 
Jodo  ("Pure  Land")  sect  had  been  added  to  the  Tendai 
and  the  Shingon  groups.  It  taught  salvation  by  faith  in 
Amida.  This  Amida  or  Amitabha,  "  the  Buddha  of  Infinite 
Light,"  was  without  beginning  or  end  and  was  the  father  of 
all  beings.  He  had  been  incarnated  at  different  times  and 
in  various  forms  to  bring  salvation  to  men  and  at  his  last 
appearance  had  vowed  that  he  would  not  accept  deliverance 
by  entering  Buddhahood  unless  by  so  doing  he  could  make 
salvation  possible  for  all  men.  He  succeeded  after  much 
suffering  and  opened  a  Paradise  for  the  redeemed.  Jodo 
taught  that  Paradise  was  open  to  all  who  called  on  Amida 
with  faith.  One  is  forcibly  reminded  of  Christian  teaching, 
and  some  scholars  have  believed  that  they  have  established 
the  existence  of  an  historic  connection. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  three  more  sects  appeared. 
The  first,  Shinshu,  a  form  of  Jodo,  has  sometimes  been  called 
Buddhist  Protestantism.  It  dispensed  with  elaborate  acts 
of  devotion  and  ritual.  Its  priests  married  and  it  had  no 
monasteries.  It  translated  its  scriptures  into  the  ver- 
nacular and  taught  that  salvation  was  achieved  not 
through  abstruse  philosophy  or  penances,  abstinence  from 
meat,  and  elaborate  ceremonies,  but  through  simple  faith 
in  Amida  and  devout  prayer,  purity,  and  earnestness  of  life. 


52  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

The  second,  or  Zen  group  of  sects,  had  a  great  influence 
over  the  military  class.  It  owed  its  origin  to  an  Indian 
priest  who  had  come  to  China  in  the  sixth  century  and  had 
attempted  to  reform  the  Buddhisni^of  that  land.  Enlighten- 
ment was  to  be  obtained  not  primarily  from  books,  but  as 
Gautama  had  found  it,  through  meditation,  Zen  found  its 
way  to  Japan,  and  was  greatly  modified  there.  It  demanded 
of  its  followers  a  mode  of  intense  mental  concentration;  to 
know  truth  one  must  learn  to  look  at  the  world  from  an 
entirely  new  angle,  and  become  indifferent  to  the  vicissitudes 
of  life.  Zen  encouraged  a  studied  and  primitive  simplicity 
and  symbolized  through  it  the  deepest  meanings.  It  valued 
reserve,  a  perfect  self-control  backed  by  concentrated 
energy.  Its  sternness  aiid^its^  austerity  were  in  contrast  to 
the  softer  teachings  and  ornate  temples  of  the  older  sects, 
Tendai  and  Shingon,  that  had  appealed  to  the  luxurious 
court  at  Kyoto.  It  impressed  mightily  the  warrior  class 
and  while  only  a  few  practiced  fully  its  exacting,  rigorous 
methods,  it  had  a  great  effect  upon  feudal  life.  Painting, 
architecture,  landscape  gardening,  social  intercourse  and 
etiquette,  hterature,  and  calligraphy  all  showed  its  in- 
fluence, particularly  in  the  later  feudal  ages. 

The  third,  or  Nichiren  group,  bears  the  name  of  its 
founder,  an  earnest,  zealous  preacher-  He  was  distressed 
by  the  religious  and  political  decay  of  his  day  and  as  a 
remedy  taught  a  kind  of  monotheism,  a  belief  in  Gautama, 
not  Amida,  as  the  Eternal  One.  He  laid  especial  emphasis 
on  one  book  of  the  Buddhist  scriptures.  He  bitterly  de- 
noimced  the  other  sects  and  the  evils  of  his  times,  and  was 
frequently  in  peril  of  his  life  at  the  hands  of  irate  rulers. 
His  followers  have  used  spectacular  methods  of  reaching 
the  people.  Far  from  restoring  imity  in  Buddhism  the  sect 
has  itself  broken  up  into  many  subdivisions. 


THE  SHOGUNATE  53 

As  time  went  on  Kamakura  began  to  take  on  an  air  of 
luxury  and  refinement.  Magnificent  temples  were  erected. 
Tea  was  introduced  from  China  and  with  its  use  there  began 
an  elaborate  ceremonial  of  tea-drinking  closely  associated 
with  the  Zen  sect  and  meant  to  have  moral  as  well  as  aes- 
thetic significance.  With  tea  came  porcelain  utensils  from 
the  continent,  and  in  the  attempt  to  copy  them  the  Japanese 
for  the  first  time  began  to  produce  superior  pottery  of  their 
own.  Sculpture  flourished,  especially  in  wood.  Some 
specimens  bear  comparison  with  the  best  of  the  work  of  the 
Occident.  Sword-makers  raised  their  handicraft  to  the 
rank  of  a  fine  art.  Two  notable  schools  of  painting  devel- 
oped. One  of  them,  in  Kyoto,  while  admiring  the  old 
Chinese  masters,  aspired  to  be  distinctively  Japanese. 
The  other,  in  Kamakura,  adhered  closely  to  the  form  in  use 
on  the  continent  and  remained  decidedly  Chinese.  > 

Once  during  the  period  Japan  was  seriously  threatened 
by  foreign  invasion.  The  Mongols,  a  Central  Asiatic  tribe, 
having  achieved  unity  under  some  remarkably  able  leaders 
and  generals,  in  the  thirteenth  century  overran  Central  and 
Western  Asia  and  Eastern  Europe,  and  established  them- 
selves on  the  throne  of  China.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
thirteenth  century  the  Mongol  emperor  of  China,  Kublai 
Khan,  decided  to  attempt  the  annexation  of  Japan.  A  first 
expedition  was  sent  in  1274  but  was  beaten  back,  and  a 
second  more  elaborate  one  was  dispatched  seven  years  later. 
Against  the  invasion  the  Japanese  imited  as  one  people, 
forgetting  for  a  time  their  divisions.  It  needed  all  their 
strength  to  repulse  it,  for  Kublai  had  endeavored  through 
years  of  preparation  to  concentrate  on  it  the  resources  of 
all  his  vast  domains.  His  Chinese  dominions  had  been 
annoyed  by  Japanese  pirates  and  his  wrath  had  been 
aroused  by  the  ignominious  death  that  the  Hojo  had  in- 


54  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

flicted  on  his  messengers.  The  Japanese  bravely  assaulted 
the  armada  which  bore  the  invading  army  and  held  it  at 
bay  until  one  of  the  sudden  storms  of  the  region  arose  and 
destroyed  it.  It  was  probably  the  most  notable  deliverance 
in  the  nation's  history.  Japan  remained  the  one  civilized 
state  in  the  Far  East  that  had  successfully  resisted  the 
Mongol  arms. 

THE  ASHIKAGA   PERIOD 

In  time  the  power  of  the  Hojo  was  weakened.  The  de- 
feat of  the  Mongol  invasion  strained  their  resources  and  for 
various  reasons  added  little  to  their  prestige.  The  luxury 
of  the  life  at  Kamakura  did  its  baleful  work.  The  regents 
became  corrupt  and  followed  the  evil  custom  of  retiring 
early  in  life,  each  in  turn  leaving  his  position  to  a  child  who 
was  controlled  either  by  his  ministers  or  an  ex-regent.  The 
government  presented  the  sorry  spectacle  of  a  puppet 
guardian  of  a  puppet  shogun  who  was  in  turn  the  agent  of  a 
puppet  emperor.  Dire  mismanagement  followed.  When 
dissatisfaction  was  at  its  height  there  chanced  to  be  on  the 
imperial  throne  a  monarch,  Go-Daigo,  who,  imlike  most  of 
his  immediate  predecessors,  was  a  mature  man  at  the  time 
of  his  accession.  He  made  aTdesperate  efifort  to  regain  the 
substance  of  the  power  whose  shadow  he  enjoyed,  and  to 
end  the  dual  government.  Years  of  civil  war  foUowed. 
For  a  time  the  Hojo  prevailed  and  Go-Daigo  was  driven 
into  exile.  The  Hojo  tyranny,  however,  had  aroused  such 
great  opposition  that  many  of  the  military  class  rallied  to 
the  support  of  the  emperor.  Aided  by  them,  especially 
by  a  scion  of  the  Minamoto,  Ashikaga  *  Takauji,  and  by 
two  who  are  still  greatly  honored  in  Japan  as  noble  patriots, 
Nitta  Yoshisada  and  Kusonoki  Masashige,  the  emperor 
^  His  family  name  was  Ashikaga. 


THE  SHOGUNATE  55 

finally  prevailed.  Kamakura  was  taken  and  sacked  and 
the  Hojo  rule  came  to  an  end.  Go-Daigo,  while  brilliant 
and  capable,  was  lacking  in  political  discretion.  After  the 
victory  he  divided  the  spoils  among  his  followers  with  such 
injustice  that  dissatisfaction  arose.  A  disproportionate 
amount  of  the  lands  of  his  enemies  went  to  his  favorites 
among  the  incompetent  court  nobility  and  to  the  scheming 
Ashikaga  Takauji,  to  the  discomfiture  of  many  loyal  soldiers 
who  had  helped  him  in  the  day  of  battle.  The  discontent 
found  a  leader  in  Takauji,  who  turned  against  his  imperial 
master.  Nitta  Yoshisada  and  Kusonoki  Masashige,  al- 
though they  had  been  shabbily  treated  by  Go-Daigo,  re- 
mained loyal  to  him.  After  a  struggle  of  some  months,  in 
which  the  tide  of  battle  flowed  and  ebbed,  these  two  cham- 
pions of  the  throne  were  killed  and  Go-Daigo  was  driven 
from  Kyoto  (1336).  Takauji  placed  upon  the  throne  his 
own  candidate  from  the  imperial  line  and  had  himself 
appointed  shogim.  This  appointee  of  Takauji  was  declared 
by  Go-Daigo  to  be  a  usurper  and  two  rival  royal  lines  came 
into  existence.  The  Ashikaga  and  their  candidate  retained 
control  of  Kyoto  and  most  of  the  nation,  and  Go-Daigo  and 
his  descendants,  according  to  native  historians  the  legit- 
imate house,  held  sway  in  Yamato.  For  over  half  a  century 
civil  war  between  the  two  lines  was  kept  up.  Private  feuds 
added  to  the  disorder  and  for  a  time  all  centralized  author- 
ity seemed  to  be  doomed.  A  reconciliation  was  reached 
between  the  rival  branches  of  the  imperial  house,  by  the 
southern  court  practically  yielding  its  claim  to  the  throne 
and  imiting  itself  with  the  northern. 

The  two  centuries  (1392-1603)  that  followed  the  union  of 
the  two  courts  ^  were  not  destined  to  be  peaceful.     The 

^  Called  the  Muromachi  period  from  the  section  of  Kyoto  where  the 
Ashikaga  shoguns  built  their  palace. 


56  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

habit  of  disorder  had  become  too  firmly  fixed  during  the 
years  of  civil  strife  to  be  quickly  overcome,  and  Takauji 
had  not  proved  himself  the  able  organizer  that  Yoritomo 
had  been.  He  had  attempted  too  often  to  quiet  opposition 
by  kindness  rather  than  vigorous  cruelty  and  had  helped 
to  endow  rival  families  with  wide  lands.  After  the  union 
of  the  dynasties,  civil  war  continued  for  several  decades 
over  the  disputes  that  had  arisen  while  the  two  were  sep- 
arate. To  hold  the  southern  court  in  check  the  Ashikaga 
shoguns  had  located  their  seat  at  Kyoto,  and  Kamakura,  the 
former  capital  of  the  bakufu,  became  a  center  of  sedition. 
Then  there  were  conflicts  over  the  succession  to  the  sho- 
gunate,  and  candidates,  often  mere  puppets,  were  cham- 
pioned by  rival  parties.  The  power  of  the  individual  mil- 
itary families  grew,  and  away  from  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  Kyoto  each  was  erecting  for  itself  what  was  virtually 
an  autonomous  domain.  In  their  struggles  for  the  sho- 
gunate  and  with  the  southern  party  the  Ashikaga  had  been 
forced  to  grant,  as  the  price  of  support,  extensive  estates  to 
the  military  families,  and  rights  of  autonomy  which  Yor- 
itomo would  never  have  thought  of  conceding. 

Disorder  extended  even  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  empire. 
Daring  Japanese  merchant  pirates  harrassed  the  shores  of 
China,  plundering  and  burning  cities  and  towns,  avenging 
the  invasion  of  the  Mongols  and  the  failure  of  the  Chinese  to 
grant  satisfactory  trading  privileges.  They  raided  such 
centers  as  Ningpo,  Shanghai,  and  Soochow  and  extended 
their  operations  to  the  Philippines,  and  to  Siam,  Burma, 
and  India.  For  a  time  it  seemed  that  the  Japanese  might 
become  a  seafaring  people,  and  anticipate  by  three  hundred 
and  fifty  years  their  commercial  achievements  of  the 
twentieth  century. 

Internal  disorder  was  augmented  by  Buddhist  warrior- 


THE  SHOGUNATE  57 

monks.  Monasteries  had  grown  rich  on  the  gifts  of  pious 
emperors,  shoguns,  and  nobles,  and  sometimes  housed 
groups  of  thousands  of  trained  fighters.  In  the  years  of  dis- 
order many  of  the  inmates  of  these  religious  houses  had 
armed  themselves.  More  than  frequently  men  assumed 
the  robes  of  the  priest  for  other  than  religious  reasons  and 
in  time  the  greater  monasteries  had  become  the  abode  of 
desperadoes  who  terrorized  the  surrounding  country.  One  ^ 
even  dominated  Kyoto  and  for  years  kept  it  in  constant 
dread. 

The  anarchy  was  still  further  increased  by  the  extrav- 
agance of  the  Ashikaga  shoguns.  With  their  capital  at 
Kyoto,  they  had  fallen  victims  to  the  luxury  and  vices 
traditionally  associated  with  the  imperial  court.  Their 
excesses  had  weakened  their  moral  fiber  and  had  neces- 
sitated the  levy  of  burdensome  taxes.  The  military  fam- 
ilies, as  their  power  grew,  contributed  less  and  less  to  the 
national  treasury,  and  the  burden  of  supporting  the  state 
fell  on  a  narrowing  region  around  Kyoto.  The  load  finally 
became  unbearable  and  the  populace  rose  in  riots,  refusing 
to  pay  taxes  and  asking  that  all  debts  be  cancelled.  Under 
the  later  Ashikaga  the  capital  was  partly  in  ruins  from  the 
civil  strife  and  the  revenues  had  so  fallen  off  that  the  nobles 
of  the  imperial  court  were  forced  to  become  pensioners  of 
the  feudal  chiefs.  The  emperors  were  in  dire  distress. 
The  coronation  of  one  had  to  be  deferred  for  lack  of  funds 
to  defray  the  expenses;  another  is  said  to  have  been  re- 
duced to  the  straits  of  selling  his  autographs  and  becoming  a 
copyist  of  poems  and  extracts  from  the  classics  to  obtain  the 
necessities  of  life.  The  body  of  still  another  is  said  to  have 
remained  imburied  for  many  days  for  lack  of  funds  to  meet 
the  funeral  charges. 

^  Hiyeisaxi. 


58  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

One  Ashikaga  shogun  ^  brought  down  on  his  head  the 
curses  of  all  future  Japanese  patriots  by  acknowledging  the 
overlordship  of  China  and  accepting  from  its  emperor  the 
title  of  "King  of  Japan."  Under  several  of  these  shoguns 
trade  with  the  Middle  Kingdom  was  carried  on  as  an 
official  monopoly.  The  government's  ships  went  to  Ningpo 
and  were  treated  by  the  Chinese  as  bearers  of  tribute.  The 
Ashikaga  calmly  acquiesced,  for  the  expeditions  were 
lucrative  and  the  proceeds  were  a  welcome  addition  to  the 
revenues  of  the  state. 

The  anarchy  was  further  increased  by  the  arrival  of 
Europeans.  The  explorations  of  the  Portuguese  in  the  age 
of  discoveries,  during  the  fifteenth  and  early  sixteenth  cen- 
turies, so  familiar  to  all  students  of  Western  history,  had 
finally  brought  them  to  Japan.  Europe  had  probably  first 
heard  of  the  country  from  the  Venetian  traveler,  Marco 
Polo,  who  had  spent  some  years  at  the  court  of  Kublai 
Khan  at  the  time  the  Mongol  expedition  against  Japan  was 
being  organized.  He  brought  back  to  the  Occident  mar- 
velous tales  of  the  riches  of  the  islands,  and  it  was  partly 
the  hope  of  rediscovering  the  country  that  led  Columbus  to 
undertake  his  famous  search  for  a  direct  Western  route  to 
the  East.  It  was  in  1542,  nearly  fifty  years  after  Vasco  da 
Gama  rounded  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  that  the  Portuguese 
reached  Japan,  the  first  Europeans  to  view  its  shores.  They 
established  commerce,  chiefly  with  the  ports  of  the  southern 
island,  Kiushiu.  They  brought  with  them  two  things  which 
were  to  affect  profoundly  the  future  of  the  nation,  firearms 
and  Christianity. 

Firearms  were  a  new  weapon  to  Japan  and  their  use 
partly  helped  the  feudal  lords  to  achieve  a  larger  independ- 
ence of  the  central  government.    Their  use  also  transformed 

^  Ashikaga  Yoshimitsu  (1358-1408),  the  third  shogun  of  the  line. 


THE  SHOGUNATE  59 

the  strongholds  of  the  military  chiefs.  No  longer  were 
wooden  structures  and  simple  earthen  walls  sufficient  de- 
fense. There  arose  great  castles  with  massive  walls  of  stone 
which  are  still  the  wonder  of  the  tourist. 

Christianity  was  first  brought  by  the  zealous  and  heroic 
Jesuit,  Francis  Xavier,  who  arrived  in  Japan  in  1549,  with 
some  Portuguese  and  Japanese  companions.  Xavier  was 
in  the  islands  about  two  years  and  penetrated  as  far  as 
Kyoto.  He  was  followed  by  other  members  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  The  message  of  these  earnest  men  found  a  quick 
and  eager  response.  In  ceremonial,  doctrine,  and  organiza-  1 
tion  Roman  Catholic  Christianity  seemed  to  the  Japanese 
but  little  different  from  the  Buddhism  to  which  they  were 
already  accustomed.  Accepting  Christianity  meant  a  ^^ 
further  share  in  the  valuable  trade  with  the  merchants  of  ^ 
the  West,  so  they  were  predisposed  in  its  favor.  Buddhism 
had  partly  failed  to  meet  the  religious  needs  of  the  people  J 
and  at  this  time  was  at  a  low  ebb  morally  and  spiritually. 
For  reasons  that  we  shall  see  later  the  new  faith  was  favored 
at  the  capital.  By  1581,  or  in  less  than  a  generation  after 
Xavier's  arrival,  there  were  reported  to  be  two  hundred 
churches  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Christians. 
At  the  height  of  the  mission  the  converts  are  said  to  have 
numbered  six  hundred  thousand,  although  this  figure  may 
be  an  exaggeration.  Two  embassies  from  feudal  lords  were 
sent  to  Rome,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  though  Japan 
were  about  to  become  a  Christian  country.  The  new  faith, 
however,  added  to  the  existing  discord  in  the  nation.  Its 
missionaries  were  intolerant  and  insisted  that  the  Christian 
lords  use  force  to  stamp  out  Buddhism  and  Shinto.  This 
naturally  led  to  opposition  and  disturbances.  Moreover, 
following  in  the  wake  of  the  Portuguese  Jesuits  came 
Spanish  Dominicans,  Franciscans,  and  Augustinians  from 


^ 


60  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

the  Philippine  Islands.  These  friars  fell  to  quarreling  with 
the  Jesuits  and  the  confusion  was  accentuated. 

What  with  the  rivalries  of  the  military  chiefs,  the  Bud- 
dhist warrior-monks,  the  weakness  of  the  central  govern- 
ment, the  anarchy  at  the  capital,  the  introduction  of  j&re- 
arms,  and  the  divisions  caused  by  Christianity,  it  seemed  for 
a  time  that  the  nation  might  break  up. 

All  was  not  dark,  however.  In  the  first  place,  the  period 
was  not  one  of  utter  depravity  and  barbarism.  In  spite  of 
civil  war,  in  spite  of  the  robbers  that  infested  the  capital 
and  the  provinces,  in  spite  of  disunion,  there  was  some 
progress  in  culture.  Even  at  Kyoto  there  were  occasional 
times  of  quiet  when  the  arts  of  peace  might  flourish.  At  the 
courts  of  some  of  the  great  feudal  barons,  or  daimyo  ("great 
name"),  as  they  came  to  be  called,  there  was  to  be  found  a 
regard  for  the  refinements  of  Ufe,  even  though  the  lu^ry  of 
the  capital  was  despised.  Here  and  there  were  towns, 
partly  the  result  of  the  semi-piratical  commerce  with  the 
continent.  The  Zen  sect  of  Buddhism  and  its  closely  allied 
ceremony  of  tea-drinking  grew  in  popularity.  Artistic  danc- 
ing had  its  votaries,  as  it  had  had  from  the  dawn  of  the 
nation's  history,  and  a  severely  classical  style  that  was 
evolved  then  is  still  in  vogue  in  aristocratic  circles.  Under 
the  auspices  of  Buddhism  the  drama  began  its  growth. 
The  tasteful  arrangement  of  flowers  became  popular  as  a 
special  study.  Landscape  gardening,  for  which  Japan  is 
so  justly  famous,  received  much  attention.  It  owed  its 
inception,  as  does  so  much  else  that  is  good  in  Japan,  to 
Chinese  models,  but  these  had  been  greatly  unproved  upon. 
The  studied  simplicity  and  attempt  to  preserve  nature,  for 
instance,  that  are  the  ideals  of  one  school  of  Japanese 
gardeners,  are  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  elaborate  formalism 
of  the  continental  artists.    The  burning  of  incense  took  on 


THE  SHOGUNATE  6l 

the  proportions  of  an  exacting,  complicated  avocation  in 
polite  society.  Wrestling  was  evolved  from  its  earlier  and 
simpler  forms  to  a  specialized  vocation.  Sword-making,  as 
might  be  expected  in  an  age  so  largely  military,  attained  the 
rank  of  a  fine  art.  The  secrets  of  manufacture  were  handed 
down  from  father  to  son  and  choice  specimens  were  as 
famous  as  the  greatest  paintings  and  almost  as  costly. 
Painting  was  not  entirely  neglected,  but  was  pursued  by 
some  whose  names  rank  with  the  greatest  that  Japan  has 
produced.^  Bushido,  "the  way  of  the  warrior,"  the  ethical 
code  of  the  military  class,  was  elaborated. 

JAPAN  UNDER  CONTROL  OF  MILITARY   LEADERS 

In  the  second  place,  out  of  the  anarchy  of  these  years 
I  arose  the  men  who  were  to  reestablish  order,  vigorous 
leaders  without  whom  the  Japan  of  to-day  would  have  been 
impossible.  It  was  natural  that  the  shifting  fortunes  and 
the  struggles  of  such  troublous  times  should  enable  the 
strongest  men  to  come  to  the  front.  Birth  coxmted  for  less 
than  it  had  in  some  previous  centuries,  and  the  man  of 
merit  and  ability  had  a  much  better  chance  of  recognition 
than  he  would  have  had  in  peaceful  times  when  society  was 
more  stereotyped.  Members  of  the  lower  orders  of  the 
military  class  arose  and  struggled  to  establish  their  su- 
premacy. Three  of  these  stand  out  preeminently,  as  suc- 
cessive masters  of  the  nation,  Oda  Nobunaga,  Toyotomi 
Hideyoshi,  and  Tokugawa  lyeyasu,  more  commonly  re- 
ferred to  simply  by  their  personal  names  Nobunaga, 
Hideyoshi,  and  lyeyasu.  The  last  was  to  organize  a  form  of 
government  that  was  to  endure  imtil  past  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

1  Two  of  the  greatest  painters  of  the  time  were  Sesshu  and  Moton- 
obu.   They  followed  the  models  of  the  Sung  dynasty  artists  of  China. 


62  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

The  first  of  these,  Nobunaga,  rose  through  a  series  of 
successful  wars  with  his  neighbors  and  in  1568,  at  the  in- 
vitation of  the  emperor,  came  to  Kyoto  to  restore  order. 
Partly  through  the  favor  of  the  imperial  house  he  made 
himself  master  of  Kyoto  and  reduced  the  shogun  to  the 
position  of  a  mere  puppet.  From  that  time  his  life  was 
largely  a  series  of  wars  waged  to  maintain  his  position.  He 
fought  other  feudal  lords  who  desired  to  emulate  his  success. 
He  fought  the  warrior-monks  and  subdued  them,  destroying 
one  great  monastery  at  Osaka  and  another  ^  that  dominated 
the  capital.  In  his  hatred  of  these  monks  and  Buddhism  in 
general  he  viewed  with  favor  the  coming  of  the  Jesuits  and 
furthered  their  propaganda,  quite  possibly  in  the  hope  that 
this  new  sect  might  help  him  in  his  fight  with  the  older.  He 
did  not  formally  assume  a  high  office  but  was  content  to 
rule  the  empire  simply  as  the  most  powerful  of  the  feudal 
princes.  In  one  of  his  wars  (1582)  he  was  trapped  unex- 
pectedly by  a  vassal  and,  in  accordance  with  the  traditions 
of  his  class,  committed  suicide  rather  than  allow  himself  to 
be  captured  in  disgrace.  Nobunaga  had  had  two  able 
lieutenants,  Hideyoshi  and  lyeyasu,  who  were  now  in  turn 
to  dominate  the  nation. 

Hideyoshi  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  that  Japan 
has  produced,  and  has  at  times  been  called  its  Napoleon. 
He  was  of  humble  birth,  not  being  even  of  warrior  (samurai) 
rank.  His  youth  was  spent  in  the  most  desperate  poverty. 
As  a  lad  of  six  he  lost  his  father.  At  sixteen  he  was  able  to 
attach  himself  to  a  small  daimyo  with  whom  he  became 
popular.  He  later  joined  Nobunaga,  by  sheer  ability  arose 
to  high  command,  and  eventually  became  one  of  the  two 
chief  Heutenants  of  his  master. 

lyeyasu  was  of  Minamoto  blood  and  so  was  eligible  for 
^  Hiyeisan. 


THE  SHOGUNATE  63 

the  position  of  shogun.  He  owed  his  position,  however,  not 
so  much  to  family  connections  as  to  genius,  and  was  to 
emerge  as  the  final  organizer  of  the  feudal  system  and  one 
of  the  ablest  statesman  that  his  nation  has  produced.  He 
was  frugal  and  hardworking,  and  could  bide  his  time  with 
infinite  patience.  While  he  was  utterly  unscrupulous  in  the 
use  of  means  for  attaining  his  own  ends  and  never  allowed 
his  heart  to  interfere  with  his  designs,  he  won  men  by  his 
affability  and  was  not  without  feelings  of  generosity  and 
justice.  His  resourcefulness  seemed  inexhaustible  and  his 
judgment  almost  infallible. 

The  sons  of  Nobunaga  proved  incapable  of  maintaining 
their  leadership  of  the  nation  after  their  father's  death. 
Civil  strife  followed  and  out  of  it  Hideyoshi  emerged  as 
master.  lyeyasu,  for  a  time  his  enemy,  soon  allied  himself 
with  him,  and  became  his  chief  lieutenant.  By  a  combina- 
tion of  tact  and  force  Hideyoshi  put  down  opposition  and 
united  all  Japan  under  his  sway.  He  crushed  his  opponents, 
even  in  remote  districts  like  Ejushiu,  by  masterful  cam- 
paigns, and  then  often  won  the  support  of  the  vanquished 
by  generous  terms.  He  was  a  remarkably  accurate  judge 
of  men,  a  skillful  strategist,  and  an  extremely  able  adminis- 
trator. While  he  never  overcame  some  of  the  defects  of  his 
plebeian  birth  and  early  training,  these  did  not  seriously 
handicap  his  success.  Not  being  of  Minamoto  blood  he 
could  not  become  shogun,  but  he  had  himself  adopted  by 
one  of  the  Fujiwara  and  was  appointed  to  the  post  of  regent, 
an  office  heretofore  reserved  to  members  of  that  aristocratic 
family,  and  later  was  given  the  title  of  Taiko,  "great  merit," 
by  which  he  is  usually  known  to  Japanese  readers.  He  is 
the  one  instance  in  the  nation's  history  of  the  rise  of  a  com- 
moner to  the  highest  position  open  to  a  subject. 

After  subjugating  the  nation,  Hideyoshi  gave  himself  to 


64  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

the  task  of  unifying  and  increasing  his  power.  At  first  he 
favored  Christianity,  but  he  soon  came  to  oppose  it,  for  he 
felt  it  to  be  a  source  of  dissension,  and  feared  that  it  might 
pave  the  way  for  an  invasion  by  the  Spanish  or  Portuguese. 
Because  of  greater  interests  elsewhere,  however,  he  did  not 
strictly  enforce  against  it  his  edicts  of  proscription.  He 
built  extensively  in  Osaka,  the  port  of  Kyoto,  and  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  prosperity  of  that  city.  Not  content 
with  controlling  Japan,  he  dreamed  of  foreign  commercial 
and  political  expansion.  He  encouraged  daring  Japanese 
mariners  to  sail  to  Macao,  the  Philippines,  Cambodia,  and 
Annam. 

Near  by  was  Korea,  and  Hideyoshi  planned  to  reduce  it 
and  use  it  as  a  gateway  for  the  conquest  of  China.  He 
probably  felt,  too,  that  a  foreign  expedition  would  be  a  con- 
venient channel  into  which  to  divert  the  martial  spirit  of 
the  feudal  lords,  and  prevent  their  plotting  against  him. 
War  was  forced  and  in  1592  Hideyoshi's  armies  crossed  to 
the  mainland  and  began  their  attack.  This  was  carried  on 
with  great  cruelty  and  won  for  the  Japanese  the  abiding 
hatred  of  the  Koreans.  The  invasion  also  involved  the 
islanders  with  China,  for  the  Celestial  Empire  claimed  the 
peninsula  as  a  vassal  state  and  felt  that  its  possession  by  an 
alien  power  would  be  a  menace  to  the  imperial  borders. 
Korea  had  been  united  some  centuries  before,  but  was  then 
in  decay  and  found  it  difficult  to  offer  an  effective  resistance. 
The  prolonged  attack  was  only  partially  successful;  it 
drained  Japan  of  men  and  money  and  caused  endless 
anxiety  to  its  author.  Peace  negotiations  were  begun  with 
China  but  were  angrily  broken  off  by  Hideyoshi  when  he 
learned  that  he  was  to  be  invested  by  the  emperor  of  China 
with  the  title  of  a  tributary  king.  Finally  after  the  Taiko's 
death  in  1598  the  troops  were  recalled.     The  Japanese 


fHE  SHOGUNATE  65 

power  in  the  peninsula  soon  dwindled  to  a  shadowy  claim  of 
suzerainty  which  was  not  vigorously  enforced.  Occasional 
embassies  were  sent  from  Korea  to  acknowledge  the  over- 
lordship  of  the  island  empire,  but  there  was  no  attempt  at 
interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of  the  vassal  state. 

Hideyoshi  had  spent  much  time  in  attempting  to  make 
the  succession  secure  for  his  only  son,  Hideyori,  and  had 
perfected  an  elaborate  council  of  regency  made  up  of  the, 
strong  men  of  the  realm  with  lyeyasu  as  president.  These 
all  solemnly  promised  to  be  true  to  their  trust  and  to  their 
lord's  heir.  The  great  warrior  was  scarcely  in  his  grave, 
however,  before  dissensions  broke  out.  Hideyori  was  a 
mere  lad  and  of  course  could  not  keep  the  turbulent  feudal 
chiefs  under  control.  Within  two  years  Japan  was  in  two 
armed  camps,  one  made  up  chiefly  of  southern  daimyo  and 
in  possession  of  Hideyori,  the  other  led  by  lyeyasu,  who  had 
thus  proved  untrue  to  his  trust  as  president  of  the  regency. 
jrh^tjm_armiesjnet  at  Sekigahara^not  far  from  Kyoto,  and 
there  followed  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of  the  nation's 
history.  Aided  by  treason  in  the  enemy's  ranks,  lyeyasu 
won,  and  was  henceforth  master  of  the  country.  Hideyori, 
his  mother,  and  his  irmnediate  followers  retired  to  the 
strong  castle  at  Osaka  which  his  father  had  built.  Out- 
wardly he  submitted  to  the  Tokugawa  and  for  some  years 
was  not  molested.  He  was  not  constrained  to  Join  the 
feudal  sytsem  that  lyeyasu  was  organizing  and  was  even 
married  to  that  astute  person's  granddaughter.  As  Hideyori 
approached  maturity,  however,  he  gave  promise  of  real 
vigor  and  ability.  There  began  to  gather  around  him  at 
Osaka  all  those  who  were  discontented  with  the  Tokugawa's 
rule.  lyeyasu's  apprehensions  were  aroused  and  in  161 5 
he  trmnped  up  a  cause  for  a  quarrel.  The  castle  was  at- 
tacked but  proved  so  impregnable  that  lyeyasu  withdrew. 


66  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

feigning  a  desire  for  peace.  An  agreement  was  entered  into 
by  which  Hideyori,  in  exchange  for  quiet,  trustingly  but 
unwisely  allowed  the  outer  defenses  of  his  fortress  to  be 
razed  and  the  moat  to  be  filled.  lyeyasu  then  returned  to 
the  attack,  the  castle  was  fired  by  traitors  and  Hideyori  and 
his  mother  perished.  All  opposition  of  the  Taiko's  followers 
now  ceased. 

For  further  reading  see:  Griffis,  The  Mikadoes  Empire;  Lloyd, 
The  Creed  of  Half  Japan;  Brinkley,  Japan,  Its  History,  Arts 
and  Literature;  Brinkley,  A  History  of  the  Japanese  People; 
Longford,  The  Story  of  Old  Japan;  Longford,  The  Story  of  Korea. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Shogunate:  From  the  Accession  of  Iyeyasu  (1603) 
TO  the  Coming  of  Perry  (1853) 

IYEYASU  reorganizes   THE    SHOGUNATE 

After  disposing  of  the  heir  of  Hideyoshi,  Iyeyasu  faced 
the  great  task  of  consolidating  his  conquests  and  insuring 
their  permanence  in  the  hands  of  his  family.  It  is  here  that 
his  distinctive  genius  shines  out.  He  was  fortunately  suc- 
ceeded by  an  able  son  and  grandson,  Hidetada  (1579-1632), 
and  lyemitsu  (1603-165 1) ,  who  walked  in  his  steps.  So  well 
did  these  three  do  their  work  that  the  empire  was  dominated 
by  their  house  for  two  and  a  half  centuries  and  for  over  two 
centuries  the  country  was  undisturbed  by  war.  The  means 
that  they  used  to  achieve  these  ends  were  various.  In  the 
first  place,  Iyeyasu  had  himself  appointed  shogun  (1603) 
and  thus  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  feudalized  mili- 
tary system  that  had  first  been  organized  by  Yoritomo,  over 
four  hundred  years  before.  He  located  the  military  capital 
at  Yedo,  the  present  Tokyo,  away  from  the  imperial  court, 
nearer  the  geographical  center  of  the  main  island  and  in  the 
North,  from  which  most  of  his  support  came.  The  city 
became  in  time  the  largest  in  the  land.  Its  castle,  the 
residence  of  the  shoguns,  was  a  massive  and  extensive  piece 
of  masonry  and  in  an  altered  form  is  to-day  the  imperial 
palace.  Iyeyasu  surrounded  Yedo  with  fiefs  held  by  mem- 
bers of  his  own  family,  the  Tokugawa.  All  strategic  points 
were  placed  in  the  hands  of  chiefs  whom  he  could  trust. 
Officials  responsible  to  the  shogun  were  put  over  the  prin- 

67 


68  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

dpal  cities,  and  the  main  highway  between  Tokyo  and 
Yedo  was  carefully  guarded.  lyeyasu  skillfully  distributed 
fiefs  among  members  of  his  family  and  loyal  barons  wherever 
there  seemed  likely  to  be  disaffection.  Thus  two  great 
families,  possible  aspirants  for  the  shogunate,  were  certain 
to  find  a  strong  fief  organized  near  them  or  between  them 
and  given  to  a  Tokugawa.  The  funds  of  those  barons  of 
whose  loyalty  there  was  any  doubt  were  depleted  by  the 
enforced  construction  of  great  works,  especially  castles. 

All  daimyo  were  commanded  to  maintain  houses  in  Yedo. 
Each  was  to  keep  some  of  his  family  or  retainers  there 
throughout  half  of  the  year  as  hostages  for  his  good  be- 
havior, and  each  was  himself  to  spend  the  other  half  of  the 
year  there,  where  he  could  be  watched.  The  rules  regarding 
hostages,  it  may  be  added,  were  cancelled  by  the  fourth  of 
the  Tokugawa  shoguns.  Deputy  governors  under  the  direct 
control  of  Yedo  were  scattered  through  the  country,  and 
were  still  another  check  on  the  daimyo.  The  feudal  barons 
were  allowed  a  great  deal  of  Uberty  within  their  own  fiefs, 
and  the  commoners — merchants,  farmers,  and  towns- 
people— were  encouraged  to  govern  their  local  affairs 
through  guilds,  city  elders,  and  village  chiefs.  All  officers 
were  held  strictly  accountable  for  the  maintainance  of 
order,  however,  and  a  habit  of  discipline  and  obedience  was 
acquired  which  was  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  anarchy  and 
excessive  individualism  of  the  last  years  of  the  Ashikaga. 
This  habit  of  discipline  was  to  be  of  service  to  the  nation  in 
the  great  changes  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  imperial  institution  was  not  destroyed,  but  the  em- 
peror was  effectively  barred  from  any  active  interference  in 
national  affairs  by  the  clever  expedient  of  increasing  his 
sanctity.  His  divine  origin  was  emphasized  and  was  held 
to  remove  him  from  the  sordid  duties  of  ruling  and  of  con- 


THE  SHOGUNATE  69 

ceming  himself  with  the  material  affairs  of  his  realm.  None 
but  his  most  intimate  ministers  and  the  members  of  his 
family  were  to  come  into  intimate  contact  with  him.  No 
others  might  see  his  sacred  face.  He  was  to  devote  himself 
to  honoring  his  imperial  ancestors  and  obtaining  their 
blessings  for  the  realm.  He  was  still  held,  however,  to  be 
the  source  of  all  authority  and  the  shoguns  were  in  theori. 
merely  his  servants.  He  was  provided  with  a  modest  but 
sufficient  revenue  and  was  allowed  to  confer  empty  titles  of 
honor.  The  old  civil  or  court  nobility  was  preserved  and 
the  sanctity  in  which  it  was  held  was  increased,  but  it  was 
provided  with  only  meager  stipends,  and  was  given  no  part 
in  the  active  administration.  The  appointment  and  tenure 
of  the  emperor's  chief  officials  were  virtually  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  bakufu.  From  this  same  source,  and  not  from 
independent  estates,  were  derived  the  incomes  of  the 
monarch  and  the  court  aristocracy.  To  make  the  imperial 
impotence  doubly  certain,  Kyoto  was  surrounded  by  a 
cordon  of  fiefs  held  by  military  lords  on  whose  loyalty  the 
Tokugawa  could  depend,  and  Osaka,  the  port  to  Kyoto, 
was  governed  directly  by  the  shogun. 

All  classes  of  society  were  carefully  controlled  by  minute 
and  exact  regulations.  The  imperial  court,  feudal  lords, 
warriors,  and  commoners  had  their  actions,  their  dress,  and 
their  food  strictly  standardized.  Confusion  and  turmoil 
were  reduced  to  a  minunum  by  a  most  elaborate  system  of 
governmental  supervision.  Education,  the  printing  of 
books,  and  especially  the  study  and  teaching  of  the  works  of 
the  Chinese  Confucian  scholars  were  fostered,  possibly  in 
the  belief  that  by  these  means  public  and  private  morality 
would  be  made  stable  and  order  become  secure.  The 
successive  shoguns  helped  the  merchant  and  fanning  classes 
by  favorable  rules  and  public  works.    This  may  have  been 


70  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

done  with  the  conviction  that  if  the  country  were  pros- 
perous there  would  be  no  unrest. 

lyeyasu  initiated  and  his  successors  completed  the  consol- 
idation of  the  nation  by  stamping  out  Christianity  and  cut- 
ting off  all  but  the  scantiest  intercourse  with  the  outside 
world.  We  have  already  seen  how  the  foreign  faith  was  in- 
troduced by  the  Jesuits,  and  how  its  rapid  growth  and  the 
discord  created  by  it  led  to  its  proscription  by  Hideyoshi. 
That  proscription  was  not  fully  carried  out  and  in  the  years 
that  followed  Christianity  continued  to  spread.  Foreign 
priests  kept  up  their  propaganda  and  many  of  the  inhab- 
itants, possibly  600,000  in  all,  principally  in  Kiushiu  and 
other  southern  portions  of  the  empire,  became  Christians. 
During  the  earlier  years  of  his  rule  lyeyasu  was  apparently 
not  averse  to  Christianity  and  distinctly  favored  the  mis- 
sionaries on  several  occasions.  He  seems  to  have  had  no 
religious  motive  in  this,  but  did  it  as  a  commercial  measure. 
He  was  exerting  himself  to  open  up  and  maintain  trade 
with  Europe  and  the  lands  of  Eastern  Asia.  For  a  number 
of  years  commercial  relations  were  kept  up  with  Spain 
through  Mexico,  and  the  Dutch  and  the  English  were  both 
permitted  to  establish  trading  factories  in  the  South. 
Japanese  merchants  made  their  way  unopposed  by  the 
shogun  to  the  Philippines,  Annam,  Siam,  China-,  and  India, 
lyeyasu  was  eager  to  see  a  mercantile  marine  developed  and 
Japan's  mines  opened.  Gradually,  however,  his  attitude 
underwent  a  change  and  toward  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he 
became  hostile  to  Christianity.  Hidetada  and  lyemitsu, 
especially  the  latter,  were  even  more  bitter  and  ended  not 
only  by  stamping  out  Christianity  but  by  closing  the  coun- 
try against  all  but  the  slightest  contact  with  the  outside 
world.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  all  the  reasons  for  this 
jx)licy,  but  a  few  are  apparent.    An  envoy  sent  to  Europe 


THE  SHOGUNATE  71 

reported  unfavorably  on  what  he  had  seen  of  the  foreign 
religion  in  its  own  home.  A  shipwrecked  Englishman, 
Will  Adams,  won  the  regard  of  lyeyasu  and  painted  in  an 
unfavorable  light  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church,  en- 
couraging the  suspicion  that  the  propaganda  of  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  missionaries  was  but  the  preliminary  to 
political  aggression.  A  Christian  conspiracy  was  discovered 
against  the  shogun  and  his  authority  was  dej&ed  by  a  Fran- 
ciscan father.  There  were  unseemly  dissensions  and  rival- 
ries between  the  different  missionary  orders.  The  mission- 
aries, especially  the  Jesuits,  obeyed  their  religious  superiors 
rather  than  the  temporal  authorities,  an  attitude  that  was 
intolerable  to  shoguns  who  were  trying  to  insure  peace  by 
centralizing  all  power  in  their  own  hands.  The  Spaniards 
tried  to  shut  out  the  Dutch,  and  the  Dutch  in  turn  tried  to 
shut  out  the  English  from  the  Japanese  trade.  In  1614 
lyeyasu  ordered  that  all  foreign  priests  be  expelled,  that  all 
churches  be  destroyed,  and  that  all  Japanese  Christians 
be  compelled  to  renounce  their  faith.  His  determination  to 
enforce  the  edict  was  strengthened  by  the  evident  sympathy 
of  the  Christian  communities  with  Hideyori  in  his  last  stand. 
It  was  also  reinforced  by  the  persistent  refusal  of  the 
missionaries  to  leave  Japan.  They  hid  themselves,  or  were 
deported  only  to  return.  Such  contumacy  boded  ill  for  the 
peace  and  unity  that  it  was  lyeyasu 's  chief  ambition  to 
establish.  lyeyasu  died  (1616)  before  he  could  fully  carry 
out  his  policy  of  repression.  Hidetada  and  lyemitsu,  how- 
ever, continued  and  made  more  stringent  his  anti-Christian 
poKcy.  Missionaries  persisted  in  coming  to  Japan  and  many 
of  the  native  Christians  refused  to  renounce  their  faith. 
Their  stubborn  disobedience  strengthened  the  fears  of  the 
shoguns.  It  seemed  evident  that  the  prestige  and  possibly 
the  supremacy  of  the  Tokugawa  was  at  stake.    To  the 


72  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

alarmed  Yedo  chiefs  it  was  even  conceivable  that  Japanese 
independence  might  be  threatened.  The  foreign  faith  was 
proscribed  primarily  on  political,  not  on  religious  grounds. 
As  in  the  early  Roman  empire,  Christianity  seemed  to  mean 
treason.  The  most  stringent  measures  were  adopted  to 
stamp  out  the  church.  Missionaries  and  converts  were 
apprehended  by  the  thousand  and  on  refusing  to  renounce 
their  faith  were  killed,  many  of  them  by  the  most  cruel 
methods.  The  fine  heroism  of  the  martyrs  but  heightened 
the  apprehensions  and  determination  of  the  Tokugawa 
officials.  The  persecution  culminated  in  a  rebellion  in  1638  ^ 
when  most  of  the  remaining  Christians  rose  as  a  unit  and 
made  a  last  stand  in  an  old  castle  not  far  from  Nagasaki. 
They  were  annihilated  by  the  government  troops  and  the 
church  practically  ceased  to  exist.  The  edicts  against  it 
were  strictly  enforced  until  well  into  the  nineteenth  century. 
Registration  in  the  Buddhist  temples  of  all  persons  was  made 
compulsory.  All  Japanese  were  forced  to  profess  allegiance 
to  some  branch  of  Buddhism,  and  all  suspected  of  being 
recalcitrant  were  required  on  pain  of  death  to  tread  on  the 
emblems  of  the  Christian  faith.  Only  in  one  or  two  remote 
localities,  and  under  disguised  forms,  did  the  foreign  reli- 
gion persist. 

The  stubborn  resistance  of  the  Christians  could  not  but 
arouse  in  the  shoguns  a  suspicion  of  all  foreign  trade.  For 
a  time  the  effort  was  made  to  keep  up  the  much  desired  com- 
merce with  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  but  as  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Christians  became  more  severe  and  missionaries 
continued  to  come  on  the  vessels  of  their  nationals,  the 
Yedo  officials  decided  that  all  intercourse  with  Spain  and 
Portugal  must  be  stopped.  Trade  with  the  former  was  in- 
terdicted in  1624  and  with  the  latter  in  1638.  When,  in 
^  The  Shimabara  revolt. 


THE  SHOGUNATE  73 

1640,  the  Portuguese  tried  to  resume  intercourse,  their 
messengers  were  decapitated.  To  make  certain  that  no 
disturbing  influences  would  invade  the  empire,  all  Japanese 
were  forbidden  to  leave  the  country  and  any  one  who  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  so  was  to  be  executed  on  his  return.  The 
building  of  any  vessels  large  enough  for  over-seas  traffic  was 
interdicted.  The  English  had  for  a  few  years  maintained 
their  trading  factory  but  found  it  unprofitable  and  closed 
it.  They  later  desired  to  reopen  commerce  but  were  not 
permitted  to  do  so.  Of  all  European  nations  only  the 
Dutch  were  allowed  to  continue  to  send  ships.  They  were 
by  their  past  history  bitterly  opposed  to  the  Catholic  church 
and  were  not  at  all  eager  to  propagate  their  Protestant  faith. 
They  had  even  helped  the  Tokugawa  officials  to  exterminate 
the  Japanese  Christians.  Less  fear  therefore  was  felt  of 
them.  Still,  they  were  Christians,  and  to  the  timorous 
officials  at  Yedo  were  not  entirely  above  suspicion.  Their 
trade  drained  the  country  of  specie  and  restriction  was 
gradually  increased  until  they  were  eventually  allowed  to 
come  only  to  one  port,  Nagasaki.  There  their  merchants 
were  carefully  confined  to  a  small  island  ^  and  were  for- 
bidden to  hold  any  religious  service.  Only  a  few  ships  a 
year  could  come  and  the  number  was  eventually  reduced  to 
one.  Only  once  a  year  could  any  of  the  Dutch  come 
ashore,  and  then  merely  to  make  a  strictly  guarded  journey 
to  Yedo  to  do  homage  to  the  shogun.  The  most  minute 
regulations  were  adopted  for  all  intercourse  with  them.  In 
spite  of  the  humiliations  it  entailed  the  Dutch  continued 
their  trade  because  for  many  years  it  was  highly  lucrative. 
Their  imports  were  largely  silk  and  piece  goods  and  these 
they  exchanged  for  gold  and  copper  which  sold  in  Europe  at 
a  large  profit. 

^Deshima. 


74  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

With  this  slight  exception,  Japan  was  now  hermetically 
sealed  against  contamination  from  the  Occident.  The 
land  entered  on  more  than  two  centuries  of  hermit  Ufe.  A 
few  ideas  filtered  in  through  the  Dutch,  and  a  carefully 
regulated  one-sided  commerce  was  carried  on  by  the 
Chinese  who  were  themselves  almost  equally  well  sealed 
against  contact  with  Europe.  That  this  voluntary  isolation 
was  a  disadvantage  is  open  to  question.  It  is  true  that  it 
deprived  Japan  of  the  stimulus  that  comes  from  interna- 
tional competition,  but  disintegration  might  have  re- 
sulted. In  the  ensuing  centuries  she  was  being  pre- 
pared for  the  great  awakening  that  took  place  with  the 
renewal  of  intercourse  with  the  West  by  Commodore 
Perry. 
r  The  Tokugawa  organization  had  at  last  insured  internal 
and  external  peace.  The  centuries  of  disorder  and  civil 
strife  had  come  to  an  end.  The  system,  however,  carried 
within  it  the  seeds  of  its  own  destruction.  It  became  an 
anomaly.  Warlike  in  its  origin  and  purpose,  an  organized 
mihtary  feudalism,  all  its  strength  was  now  directed  to  the 
repression  of  strife.  Its  decay  was  inevitable.  It  was  like 
the  shell  of  a  chrysalis.  Within  it  the  nation  could  rest  and 
become  prepared  for  the  transformation  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  but  in  the  shock  of  that  transformation  the  shell 
was  to  be  destroyed.  The  years  of  peace  led  to  great 
changes  within  the  nation.  For  the  first  time  since  the 
seventh  century  it  began  to  be  a  unit.  The  Tokugawa  sys- 
tem forced  it  to  cease  to  be  a  group  of  warring  clans,  and 
to  act  as  a  whole.  True,  the  forms  of  feudalism  were 
preserved  and  the  fiefs  still  existed.  National  unity  was 
not  complete,  but  the  barriers  that  had  helped  to  divide  the 
nation  were  being  weakened.  Although  the  hakuju  issued 
no  extensive  codes,  it  published  a  system  of  rules  by  which 


THE  SHOGUNATE  75 

the  actions  of  every  subject  were  carefully  ordered.  Obe- 
dience to  laws  issued  by  a  central  authority  was  becoming  a 
habit. 

Moreover,  the  nation  was  becoming  more  prosperous. 
With  order  insured,  the  farmer- and  the  artisan  could  pursue 
their  occupations  unmolested.    The  state  encouraged  agri- 
culture and  undertook  irrigation  and  riparian  works.    Peas- 
ant  proprietorship   of   land   increased,   and   village   self- 
government  was   strengthened.     Roads  were  improved. 
Internal  commerce  grew  in  volume.    The  attention  of  the 
military  chiefs  was  turned  from  fighting  to  the  pastimes  of    { 
peace.    Luxury  sprang  up,  and  extravagant  amusements, 
methods  of  dress,  eating,  and  living  became  common.    The    | 
wishes  of  the  mighty  were  catered  to  by  a  merchant  class 
which  itself  became  wealthy.     Commercial  capital  was   , 
accumulated  and  the  currency  was  improved.    Although 
there  were  occasional  famines  and  epidemics  of  disease, 
population  increased.    There  was  but  little  abject  poverty,   I 
and  the  cities  had  no  slums  to  compare  with  those  of    1 
modem  London  or  New  York.  "'- 

Education  became  fairly  widespread  and  literature  and 
art  flourished.  In  the  capital  and  the  homes  of  the  dartnyo, 
schools  were  established  and  the  sons  of  the  rude  soldiers 
became  polished  men  of  the  world.  Lecture  halls  were 
maintained  for  the  common  people.  There  was  much 
study  of  the  Chinese  classical  writers.  This  had  been  en- 
couraged, it  will  be  remembered,  by  lyeyasu  and  his 
successors,  and  it  was  given  additional  impetus  by  the  influx 
of  Chinese  scholars  after  the  downfall  of  the  Ming  dynasty 
in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  before  the  Manchu 
invasion.  For  the  first  time  in  the  nation's  history  the 
avowed  followers  of  Confucius  became  munerous.  There 
had  been  for  many  centuries  a  few  in  nearly  every  genera- 


76  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

tion  who  called  themselves  such,  but  the  teachings  of  the 
Chinese  sage  had  never  previously  been  accorded  so  wide 
a  hearing.  There  were  many  lecturers  on  Confucianism, 
and  different  sects  arose,  the  two  principal  groups  of  which 
followed  the  Chinese  philosophers  Chu  Hsi  and  Wang 
Yang  Ming.  The  first,  called  Sho  Shi  in  Japanese,  had 
long  been  known.  He  had  taught  that  the  world  and  its 
laws  must  be  studied  before  the  moral  code  could  be  deter- 
mined; knowledge  must  come  first  and  right  conduct  would 
follow.  Wang  Yang  Ming  (1472-1529),  on  the  other  hand, 
held  that  a  man's  knowledge  of  the  moral  law  is  intuitive, 
derived  from  looking  within  his  own  heart.  Chu  Hsi  held 
that  all  nature  is  the  result  of  the  working  of  two  forces: 
Wang  Yang  Ming  held  that  these  two  forces  are  one.  Chu 
Hsi  ruled  out  of  the  classics  much  of  the  supernatural. 
He  belittled  religious  observances  and  emphasized  the 
orderly  processes  of  nature.  His  commentaries  on  the 
writings  of  Confucius  were  received  in  China  as  official  until 
the  twentieth  century.  In  Japan,  as  in  China,  Chu  Hsi  was 
given  the  support  of  the  state,  but  Wang  Yang  Ming  had 
many  devoted  followers.  He  appealed  strongly  to  the 
samurai  who  adhered  to  the  Zen  sect  of  Buddhism.  Most  of 
the  upper  classes  became  Confucianists,  and  while  still 
nominally  adherents  of  Buddhism,  rather  openly  regarded 
the  Indian  faith  as  a  mass  of  superstitions  and  fit  only  for  the 
unlettered  masses. 

The  state  encouraged  the  collection  of  books.  Historians 
basked  in  the  light  of  official  favor  and  made  extensive 
studies  of  the  nation's  past.  Painting  and  ceramics  reached 
new  heights  of  achievement.  Colored  genre  prints  and  a 
popular  literature  were  developed  to  please  those  of  the 
lower  ranks.  Famous  works  of  architecture  were  being 
produced,  such,  for  example,  as  the  beautiful  temples  that 


THE  SHOGUNATE  77 

still  adorn  the  tomb  of  lyeyasu  at  Nikko.    The  old  Japan 
was  perfecting  its  culture. 

/  ""  The  old  warrior  or  samurai  class  was  decaying.  It  is 
true  that  its  ethical  code,  bushido,  was  being  elaborated 
more  than  ever  before  into  a  formal  system  and  that  mar- 
tial exercises  and  ideals  were  encouraged.  The  spectacle  of  a 
military  caste  being  served  by  the  entire  nation,  however, 
and  yet  having  not  fought  for  decades,  was  an  anomaly. 

,  Luxury  was  sapping  the  strength  of  the  feudal  soldiers. 
The  heirs  of  the  great  daimyo  were  falling  under  the  control 
of  their  retainers,  much  as  the  emperors  in  the  old  days  had 
fallen  under  the  control  of  the  Fujiwara  and  then  of  the 
shoguns.  Even  the  shoguns  were  at  times  dominated  by 
their  ministers.  The  pernicious  habit  of  abdication  that 
had  been  inaugurated  for  the  emperors  centuries  before  was 
still  popular;  lyeyasu  himself  had  retired  some  years  before 
his  death,  although  he  persisted  in  controlling  the  adminis- 
tration from  his  seclusion.  His  successors  frequently  fol- 
lowed his  example.  As  a  result  the  nominal  shogun  was 
often  a  child  and  before  he  had  reached  middle  life  abdicated 
in  favor  of  a  youthful  heir. 

Moreover,  the  increased  leisure  for  study  and  its  encour- 
agement by  the  bakufu  had  turned  men's  thoughts  to  the 
past.  Japan's  history  was  delved  into  and  compiled  and 
with  the  work  came  a  renewed  love  of  things  Japanese. 
The  language  was  studied  and  organized.  A  vernacular 
literature,  as  opposed  to  one  in  the  classical  Chinese,  was 

\  developed.    Shinto,  the  old  native  cult,  was  revived,  and 

1  with  its  revival  came  an  increased  reverence  for  the  emperor, 
its  head.  Buddhism,  although  it  had  been  made  a  state 
religion  by  the  Tokugawa  in  their  efforts  to  stamp  out 
Christianity,  was  looked  at  askance  by  these  patriots,  for 
it  too  was  a  foreign  faith.    But  more  important  politically 


78  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

f^  was  the  discovery  by  the  historians  that  the  emperor  was 
the  rightful  ruler  of  the  nation  and  that  the  shogunate  was 
a  comparatively  recent  innovation.  Among  a  group  of 
I  scholars  the  conviction  gained  ground  that  the  shogun 
/  must  resign  and  that  the  emperor  must  be  restored  to  his 
rightful  place  as  the  actual  as  well  as  the  nominal  head  of 
the  nation.  By  a  strange  irony  of  fate  this  school  of  his- 
torians had  its  birth  in  the  home  of  one  of  the  branches  of 
the  Tokugawa  family. 
Reenforcing  the  renewed  emphasis  upon  the  institution 
of  the  emperor,  was  the  interest  in  Chinese  classical  litera- 
ture. The  Tokugawa  officials,  when  they  promoted  its 
study  and  welcomed  the  fugitive  scholars  of  the  Ming,  could 
not  have  appreciated  how  subversive  the  writings  of  the 
Confucian  school  could  prove  to  the  bakufu.  The  Chinese 
classics  emphasized  the  position  of  the  monarch  and  knew 
nothing  of  the  dual  system  that  existed  in  Japan.  Loyalty 
to  such  ideals  could  not  but  weaken  the  position  of  the 
shogun,  for  according  to  them  he  was  but  a  minister  of  the 
emperor  and  had  usurped  the  power  of  his  master. 

The  great  feudatories  of  the  South,  former  rivals  of  the 
Tokugawa,  and  never  completely  contented  with  their  rule, 
could  be  counted  on  to  aid  in  any  attempted  restoration  of 
the  emperor,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  it  might  give 
them  an  opportunity  to  place  a  new  family  on  the  seat  of 
the  shogun. 

IMPENDING  CHANGE  IN  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

By  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  nation  was 
ripe  for  change.  The  old  order  was  decaying.  The  vigor  of 
the  Tokugawa  shoguns  had  so  declined  that  they  were  more 
and  more  controlled  by  their  ministers.     Rumors  of  dis- 


THE  SHOGUNATE  79 

satisfaction  and  unrest  were  beginning  to  be  heard.  Some 
revolution  was  seemingly  about  to  take  place.  What  form 
it  would  have  taken  had  there  been  no  interruptions  from 
without,  it  is  hard  to  say.  By  one  of  the  strange  coin- 
cidences of  history,  however,  just  as  the  old  Japan  was  ripe 
for  change  it  came  into  contact  with  the  expanding  Occident 
and  out  of  the  shock  a  new  nation  emerged- 

For  further  reading  see:  Griffis,  The  Mikadoes  Empire;  Lloyd, 
The  Creed  of  Half  Japan;  Brinkley,  Japan,  Its  History,  Arts,  and 
Literature;  Brinkley,  A  History  of  the  Japanese  People;  Longford, 
The  Story  of  Old  Japan;  Davis,  Japan,  from  the  Age  of  the  Gods 
to  the  Fall  of  Tsingtao;  Gary,  A  History  of  Christianity  in  Japan. 


/ 

/ 
/ 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Civilization  of  the  Old  Japan 

One  cannot  well  begin  the  story  of  the  transition  from 
the  old  to  the  new  Japan  without  interrupting  to  describe 
the  main  characteristics  of  the  nation's  culture  just  before 
the  beginning  of  the  change.  The  Japan  of  191 7  is  so  de- 
cidedly the  child  of  the  Japan  of  1850  that  to  know  the 
first  one  must  be  acquainted  with  the  second. 

THE  MILITARY  CLASS 

I  One  of  the  prominent  features  of  the  culture  of  Japan  in 
/the  eighteenth  century  was  the  dominant  position  of  the 
1  military  class.  This  military  class,  usually  headed  by  the 
shogun  or  his  ministers,  had  from  the  time  of  Yoritomo  con- 
trolled the  state.  The  few  emperors  who  attempted  to 
assert  themselves  were  forced  to  rely  as  firmly  upon  an 
army  as  did  the  shoguns.  There  had  been  gradually  per- 
fected a  system  closely  resembling  the  feudalism  of  medieval 
Europe  and  like  it  primarily  military  in  its  forms  and  ideals. 
Its  name,  bakufu,  "camp  office,"  and  the  title  of  its  head, 
sei-i-tai-skogun,  "great  barbarian-subduing  general,"  were 
martial.  The  shogun  based  his  authority  on  force,  and 
while  in  theory  he  was  the  servant  of  the  emperor,  in  prac- 
tice he  was  the  chief  power  in  the  state.  Underneath  the 
shogun  were  the  great  military  lords,  the  daimyo.  In 
Tokugawa  times  some  of  these  were  cadet  branches  or 
direct  vassals  of  the  ruling  family.    Some  were  descendants 

80 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  8i 

of  former  rivals  of  lyeyasu,  and  gave  to  him  and  his  suc- 
cessors a  more  or  less  grudging  allegiance.  Associated  with 
tae  ^imyo  were  minor  chiefs  and  especially  the  samurai, 
£nc  ordinary  knights  or  soldiers.  Their  position  was 
hereditary  and  as  a  sign  of  their  rank  they  proudly  wore  two 
swords.  Most  of  the  smnurai  owed  allegiance  to  some 
baron  or  to  the  shogun.  From  their  lords  they  received  a 
stated"" Allowance.  Only  a  few,  called  ronin,  "wave  men," 
were  unattached.  Their  freedom  was  not  normal  and  was 
due  either  to  an  unusually  adventurous  spirit,  or  to  some 
calamity,  such  as  poverty,  disgrace,  sorrow,  or  the  extinc- 
tion of  their  Hege's  house.  The  warrior  classes  had  devel- 
oped their  own  code  of  ethics,  bushido,  of  which  more  will  be 
said  later.  The  lower  social  orders  seemed  to  exist  for  the 
support  of  this  fighting  caste.  A  wide  gulf  divided  the 
samurai  from  the  commercial  and  agricultural  classes,  and 
the  young  bloods  of  the  lower  orders  paid  the  warriors  the 
sincere  flattery  of  an  imi^tion  in  dress  and  manners  carried 
as  far  as  the  laws  would  allow.  The  ideals  of  the  nation,  as 
is  usually  the  case,  were  molded  by  the  standards  and  the 
exploits  of  the  elite.  It  is  true  that  in  spite  of  warlike  exer- 
cises and  education  the  samurai  had  lost  some  of  their  vigor 
during  the  centuries  of  Tokugawa  peace,  and  that  many 
daimyo  had  impoverished  themselves  by  luxury  and  had 
fallen  under  the  control  of  their  subordinates.  The  To- 
kugawa, too,  had  favored  the  commoners,  possibly  in  an 
attempt  to  offset  the  power  of  the  daimyo.  But  the  barons 
and  the  samurai  were  still  the  masters  of  the  nation. 

The  presence  of  this  military  class  was  in  many  respects 
to  be  a  distinct  advantage  to  Japan  in  the  new  age  brought 
by  contact  with  the  West.  It  provided  a  group  of  disci- 
pHned  men  accustomed  to  leadership,  and  whom  the  nation 
had  been  trained  to  follow.    With  a  few  exceptions  the 


82  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

leaders  in  the  transition  from  the  old  to  the  new  Japan  were 
of  the  military  class.  The  government  is  still  largely 
dominated  by  their  descendants.  In  the  possession  of  this 
special  type  of  military  heritage  the  island  empire  has  had  a 
distinct  advantage  over  China,  for  there  no  hereditary 
nobility  with  traditions  of  loyalty  and  sacrifice  is  present 
to  lead  the  nation  through  the  perils  which  beset  the  period 
of  change,  and  the  nation  itself  does  not  seem  to  have 
developed  a  capacity  for  discipline  and  unity  as  fully  as  in 
Japan.  Moreover,  the  military  tradition  was  a  partial 
preparation  for  competition  with  the  Occident.  Europe,  it 
is  true,  has  long  since  passed  from  the  feudal  stage  to  that 
of  industry  and  commerce,  but  the  habit  of  war  is  still 
strong  upon  it,  and  the  mailed  fist  is.  depended  upon  to 
further  the  economic  interests  of  the  West.  Japan,  under 
the  leadership  of  her  samurai,  and  especially  under  the 
influence  of  her  martial  tradition,  found  it  comparatively 
easy  to  adjust  herself  to  European  navalism  and  militarism. 
She  proved  an  apt  pupil  in  learning  the  methods  of  Occiden- 
tal warfare.  The  obedience,  physical  courage,  and  willing- 
ness to  fight  bred  by  the  ages  of  her  military  past  have  had 
no  small  part  in  enabling  her  to  make  herself  feared  by 
Western  powers  and  to  assume  a  place  among  them.  The 
victories  of  the  Russo-Japanese  war  were  made  possible  d 
partly,  although  not  by  any  means  entirely,  by  the  long 
centuries  of  the  bakufu. 

In  one  respect  this  emphasis  upon  the  military  has  placed 
Japan  at  a  disadvantage  in  the  modem  age.  She  was  not 
primarily  commercial  or  industrial.  Trade  was  left  to  the 
lower  classes.  She  was  lacking  in  accumulated  commercial 
capital.  She  had  no  fleet,  either  of  merchant  or  of  war 
craft.  For  the  most  part  her  roads  were  poor.  She  was 
almost  entirely  self-sufficient  and  her  foreign  commerce  was 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  8$ 

of  the  slightest.  What  industry  and  trade  existed  were 
organized  into  guilds,  a  system  admirable  in  its  time,  but 
unfitted  to  cope  with  the  great  joint-stock  concerns  of  the 
Occident.  In  1853  Japan  entered  a  world  dominated  by 
the  ideals  of  the  industrial  revolution,  bending  all  its 
energies  to  the  production  and  accumulation  of  wealth. 
It  took  her  some  time  to  adjust  herself  to  the  situation. 
That  she  has  done  so  in  a  little  over  half  a  century  is  marked 
evidence  of  adaptability.  Moreover,  her  ethics  were 
mihtary,  not  commercial.  Business  integrity  had  not 
achieved  the  place  of  honor  that  it  occupies  in  the  codes  of 
the  commercial  West.  The  trade  of  feudal  days  was  not 
characterized  by  excessive  dishonesty,  to  be  sure,  but  in  the 
early  days  of  Japan's  intercourse  with  the  Occident  much  of 
her  business  was  carried  on  by  men  who  were  not  of  the 
military  class,  and  who  were  unrestrained  by  strong  tradi- 
tional standards  of  probity  and  became  all  too  apt  pupils  of 
the  scheming  adventurers  who  were  present  in  the  van- 
guard of  the  European  commercial  invasion. 

In  the  possession  of  the  military  ideal  the  Japanese  are 
in  striking  contrast  to  their  great  continental  neighbor. 
China  has  been  primarily  commercial  and  industrial  and 
only  secondarily  martial.  She  has  often  been  devastated 
by  war,  but  her  government  has  traditionally  been  in  the 
hands  of  a  civil  bureaucracy  that  is  recruited  from  the 
ranks  of  the  agricultural,  mercantile,  and  scholarly  classes 
and  exercises  its  power  in  their  behalf.  She  has  found  it 
diflScult  to  organize  herself  to  meet  the  armies  and  navies 
of  the  West.  Japan  has,  as  we  shall  see,  felt  compelled  to 
assume  the  defense  of  the  entire  Far  East  against  the  aggres- 
sive Occident,  and  to  that  end  has  annexed  Korea  and  has 
taken  steps  toward  a  protectorate  of  China.  For  her  abib'ty 
to  do  this  and  for  her  victories  over  the  Russians  and  Ger- 


84  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

mans,  Japan  must  partly  thank  the  training  given  by  the 
years  of  military  feudalism. 

The  warrior  class  was  organized  by  fiefs.  The  feudal 
system  produced  loyalty  to  the  local  lord  rather  than  to  the 
state  or  the  emperor  or  even  to  the  shogun.  The  shogun  as 
head  of  the  Tokugawa  family  had  his  personal  retainers  and 
his  vassals  who  were  true  to  him,  but  the  land  had  many 
daimyo  who  were  jealous  of  his  power,  and  the  samurai  who 
owed  them  allegiance  could  be  counted  on  to  obey  their  lord 
first,  and  the  shogun  second  or  not  at  all.  Although  much 
weakened,  and  thoroughly  subordinated  to  loyalty  to  the 
emperor,  this  feudal  spirit  has  persisted  in  the  new  Japan. 
The  army  is  dominated  by  Choshu,  and  the  navy  by 
Satsuma,  both  of  which  we  are  to  hear  of  later,  and  at  times 
the  rivalries  of  the  two  have  been  important  factors  in 
national  politics. 

THE   IMPERIAL   INSTITUTION 

(Another  powerful  survival  from  Japan's  earlier  days  is 
the  institution  of  the  emperor.  The  ruling  house  is  de- 
voutly believed  to  have  reigned  from  ages  eternal  and  to  be 
the  direct  offspring  of  the  gods.  It  has  formed  the  rallying 
point  for  the  ardent  spirit  of  patriotism  that  has  been  so 
marked  a  characteristic  of  the  new  Japan.  Here  again  the 
island  empire  has  had  the  advantage  of  its  continental 
neighbor,  for  the  latter  has  no  native  imperial  line  aroimd 
which  the  awakening  nation  can  unite.  Dynasty  has  fol- 
lowed dynasty,  and  at  the  time  when  the  Occident  burst  in 
on  China,  her  throne  was  occupied  by  a  race  of  alien  con- 
querors whose  hold  in  their  position  was  already  weakening. 
The  traditional  attitude  toward  Japan's  imperial  house  was 
a  remarkable  preparation  for  the  duties  of  the  new  age. 
By  the  shoguns,  especially  the  Tokugawa  shoguns,  the 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  85 

emperor's  sanctity  had  been  emphasized,  thus  strengthen- 
ing his  hold  on  the  imagination  of  his  people  and  heightening 
the  new-bom  patriotism  of  the  nineteenth  century.  More- 
over, the  precedent  had  been  maintained  that  he  should 
reign  but  not  govern,  and  the  transition  to  a  constitutional 
monarchy  of  the  European  type  was  an  easy  one.  The 
shoguns,  Hideyoshi,  and  the  Fujiwara  premiers  had  ruled 
in  the  emperor's  name  for  well  over  a  thousand  years. 
Fujiwara,  shoguns,  and  even  daimyo  had  in  turn  been 
dominated  by  ministers  who  were  likewise  content  with  the 
substance  of  power  while  preserving  the  nominal  dignity  of 
the  princes  in  whose  name  they  held  it.  From  the  shogun 
who  exercised  absolute  authority  in  the  name  of  a  sacrosanct 
sovereign  who  but  seldom  interfered  in  the  administration, 
to  a  ministry,  likewise  acting  for  the  monarch,  was  no 
difficult  step.  Under  both,  the  emperor  has  been  the 
source  of  all  authority  but  has  exercised  little  of  it  himself. 
This  does  not  mean  that  in  the  new  age  there  has  been  a 
ministry  responsible  to  a  parliament,  although  toward  this 
goal  there  seems  to  have  been  progress.  It  does  mean  that  a 
group  of  the  ablest  in  the  land  won  the  ear  of  the  emperor 
and  governed  in  his  name,  assuming  all  responsibility  for  his 
acts.  Just  how  much  personal  influence  he  has  exerted  has 
never  fully  been  made  public.  In  the  mature  years  of  Meiji, 
the  great  monarch  of  the  transition  period,  it  seems  at  times 
to  have  been  large :  under  the  present  ruler  it  is  probably  not 
so  great.  Both  have  scrupulously  observed  at  least  an 
outward  loyalty  to  the  ministry. 

MODERN  OUTGROWTHS   OF   OLD  IDEALS 

The  patriotism  of  the  new  Japan,   the  self-conscious 
nationalism  which  so  centers  in  the  institution  of  the  em- 


86  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

peror,  has  grown  up  largely  in  the  past  seventy  years. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  those  who  know  only  the  Japan 
of  the  twentieth  century,  there  was  but  little  of  what  we 
think  of  as  patriotism  untU  nearly  the  close  of  feudal  days. 
The  intense  national  spirit  of  to-day  is,  however,  partially 
an  outgrowth  of  features  of  the  older  Japan,  the  loyalty  of 
■the  samurai  to  his  lord,  a  keen  sensitiveness  to  ridicule  and 
insult,  the  solidarity  produced  by  the  Tokugawa  shoguns, 
,  and  the  atmosphere  of  sanctity  that  surrounded  the  em- 
peror. The  individual  samurai,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
originally  little  if  any  feeling  of  attachment  to  the  emperor 
at  Kyoto  or  to  the  nation.  He  would  probably  not  have 
tolerated  the  usurpation  of  the  throne  by  one  not  of  the 
Hneage  of  Jimmu  Tenno,  and  he  certainly  resented  the  in- 
vasion of  the  land  by  the  Mongols,  but  it  was  not  until  well 
along  in  the  Tokugawa  regime  that  even  some  of  his  class 
began  to  be  passionately  conscious  that  the  country  was 
the  "land  of  the  gods"  and  to  be  sensitive  to  the  impotence 
of  the  rightful  sovereign.  The  samurai  did,  however,  have 
a  real  sense  of  loyalty  to  his  lord.  Part  of  his  code  of  ethics 
was  to  be  wiUing  to  sacrifice  all  that  he  held  dear,  wife, 
children,  life  itself,  in  the  service  of  his  master.  At  the 
latter's  death  he  might  even  commit  suicide.  So  extensive 
indeed  did  self-destruction  become  on  such  occasions  that 
it  was  necessary  for  the  early  Tokugawa  shoguns  to  seek  to 
restrain  it  by  law.  The  spirit  of  personal  loyalty  was  during 
the  old  regime  directed  toward  the  lord,  but  with  the  passing 
of  feudalism  it  centered  itself  on  the  person  and  institution 
of  the  emperor  with  an  intensity  which  it  is  hard  for  the 
Occidental  to  appreciate,  and  contact  with  the  nations  of 
the  West  wakened  into  life  a  latent  but  earnest  love  of 
country. 
Another  characteristic  of  the  code  of  the  samurai  was 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  87 

extreme  sensitiveness  on  points  of  honor.  Personal  affronts 
were  often  avenged  by  death.  Emphasis  was  laid  on  the 
Confucian  precept  that  a  son  must  not  live  under  the  same 
heaven  with  the  murderer  of  his  father  and  the  stories  of 
the  vengeance  of  sons  upon  the  assassins  of  their  sires  are 
numerous.  The  retainer  pursued  unto  death  the  slayer  of 
his  lord,  even  at  the  cost  of  his  own  life  and  that  of  his  wife 
and  children.  The  sword  of  the  samurai  was  ever  ready  to 
be  drawn  to  maintain  what  he  deemed  his  honor.  He  was 
intensely  proud  of  his  rank,  at  times  arrogantly  so.  This 
pride  seems  almost  to  be  a  racial  characteristic,  for  it  is 
older  than  feudalism.  It  has  survived  the  latter,  and  it  is 
national  as  well  as  personal.  It  helps  to  explain  the  re- 
sentment of  the  Japanese  at  the  discrimination  against 
their  fellow-countrymen  in  the  Occident.  They  are  in- 
dignant at  the  land  legislation  of  California  and  the  at- 
tempts at  exclusion  by  law  from  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  partly,  it  is  true,  because  of  the  economic  dis- 
advantage at  which  they  are  thus  placed,  but  primarily 
because  these  measures,  which  are  applied  to  no  Europeans, 
seem  to  brand  them  as  inferior  and  so  to  be  a  slur  on  their 
national  honor. 

Patriotism  is  partly  the  result  of  the  solidarity  forced 
upon  the  nation  by  the  Tokugawa.  Before  and  even  during 
most  of  their  time  the  national  spirit  was  low.  Feudalism 
tended  to  break  up  the  country  into  loosely  connected  units. 
The  great  daimyo  of  the  South  at  times  tended  to  act  as 
independent  monarchs,  as,  for  example,  when  they  entered 
into  commercial  agreements  with  the  European  traders  of 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  The  Tokugawa 
sought  to  promote  peace  by  insuring  unity  and  their  au- 
thority was  successfully  asserted  over  the  entire  land.  All 
the  nation  was  controlled  by  careful  regulations  from  Yedo. 


88  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Commerce,  travel,  and  even  dress  and  food  were  subject  to 
state  supervision.  The  feeling  of  nationalism  did  not  pre- 
vail, it  is  true,  until  after  the  end  of  the  shogunate,  but  it 
was  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  Tokugawa  regime. 

The  organization  of  the  Tokugawa  prepared  the  way  as 
'  well  for  another  characteristic  of  both  the  old  and  the  new 
Japan,  the  predominance  of  state  supervision  and  social, 
as  contrasted  with  individual,  initiative  and  activity.  As 
we  have  seen,  all  phases  of  Hfe  were  subject  to  regulation 
and  supervision  by  the  shogun's  representatives.  Foreign 
commerce  was  under  official  control.  Order  and  peace  were 
maintained  by  the  most  rigid  conformity  to  law.  Collective 
responsibility  was  enforced;  the  family  was  held  account- 
able for  the  deeds  of  its  members,  and  the  village  for  those 
of  its  inhabitants.  Partly  as  a  result,  in  the  new  Japan 
social  action  has  been  emphasized  to  a  high  degree.  The 
state  has  taken  the  lead  in  encouraging  railways,  telegraphs, 
banking,  and  foreign  commerce.  The  Japanese  merchant 
marine,  for  example,  whose  growth  has  been  so  noteworthy, 
has  been  heavily  subsidized.  This  emphasis  upon  collective 
action  has  many  advantages  in  the  twentieth  century,  when 
the  nations  of  the  West  are  being  forced  by  economic  com- 
petition and  war  to  an  ever-increasing  state  direction  of 
industry,  transportation,  and  commerce.  Apparently  it  is 
the  nation  which  can  be  best  organized  in  all  phases  of  its 
hfe,  intellectual,  economic,  and  miUtary,  under  the  unified 
control  of  the  central  government,  that  has  the  best  chance 
of  winning  in  the  intensified  competition  of  the  twentieth 
century.  For  this  form  of  state  collectivism  Japan  is  by  her 
past  training  eminently  fitted,  and  when  the  situation  in 
which  she  found  herself  in  the  nineteenth  century  made  it 
necessary  to  develop  it,  she  did  so  to  a  high  degree.  In  the 
struggle  for  the  maritime  hegemony  of  the  Pacific  and  com- 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  89 

mercial  leadership  in  China,  she  can  act  as  a  unit,  without 
the  waste  that  comes  from  haphazard  direction  and  im- 
perfect coordination  of  the  efforts  of  the  citizens  in  many 
nations  of  the  Occident. 

The  agency  by  which  state  direction  has  been  exercised 
under  the  new  regime  has  been  the  bureaucracy.  This  has 
been  one  of  the  outstanding  features  of  the  administrative 
system  of  the  new  Japan.  Its  higher  positions  have  been 
filled  largely  from  the  ranks  of  the  samurai  and  their  de- 
scendants. It  has  formed  a  hierarchy  that  has  on  the  whole 
dominated  the  nation.  It  is  a  continuation  in  another  form 
of  the  spirit  of  the  Tokugawa,  a  careful  and  minute  control 
by  the  government  of  all  phases  of  human  activity. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  old  Japan  was  its  experience 
in  assimilating  foreign  culture.  The  civilization  of  the  pre- 
feudal  ages,  as  we  have  seen,  was  developed  largely  under 
the  stimulus  of  contact  with  China.  Even  during  the  feudal 
ages,  so  distinctively  Japanese,  the  country  was  at  times 
and  in  some  phases  of  its  life  much  affected  by  the  continent. 
Japanese  standards  of  action,  while  largely  the  outgrowth  of 
the  people's  social  needs,  were  partly  molded  by  Confucian 
and  Buddhist  ideals.  Bushido,  whilje  unmistakably  in- 
digenous, showed  the  effect  of  both  Confucianism  and  Bud- 
dhism. Family  life  and  solidarity  bore  the  imprint  of  con- 
tinental influence.  Feudalism  grew  up  partly  as  the  result 
of  the  failure  of  the  attempt  to  adapt  the  administrative 
system  of  the  T'ang  to  Japanese  conditions.  The  written 
characters  of  China  were  taken  over  bodily  and  its  literature 
was  read  as  eagerly  in  Japan  as  on  the  continent.  Bud- 
dhism, so  influential  in  the  old  Japan,  was  Indian  in  origin 
and  reached  the  islands  in  Chinese  garb.  Chinese  philos- 
ophy profoundly  influenced  Japanese  thinkers.  And  yet 
the  people  of  Nippon  were  not  blind  imitators.    As  much  as 


90  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

they  admired  the  civilization  of  the  continent,  they  were 
not  content  to  be  slavish  copyists.  Bushido  is  very  different 
from  Confucianism  and  Buddhism.  The  Chinese  written  lan- 
guage was  partly  adjusted  to  Japanese  needs  by  the  inven- 
tion of  syllabic  marks.  A  true  Japanese  literature  and  art 
were  produced,  as  different  from  continental  models  as  was 
any  national  art  or  literature  in  medieval  Europe  from  those 
of  the  Roman  world.  The  Japanese  were  not  overwhelmed 
by  the  flood  of  culture  from  the  continent  as  was  the  Amer- 
ican Indian  by  that  of  Europe;  they  built  on  it,  as  did  the 
peoples  of  Northern  Europe  on  that  of  the  Mediterranean 
basin,  a  civilization  of  their  own. 

This  experience  in  assimilating  alien  ideas  and  institutions 
was  an  admirable  preparation  for  the  coming  of  the  Eu- 
ropean. Japan  had  for  centuries  been  accustomed  to  em- 
brace and  adapt  new  ideas  from  abroad.  Her  national  pride 
caused  her  to  be  fearful  of  any  charge  of  barbarism,  and  her 
past  made  it  natural  for  this  pride  to  lead  her,  not  to  reject 
the  culture  of  the  Occident,  but  to  hasten  to  adopt  as  much 
of  it  as  she  needed.  She  had  assimilated  the  civilization  of 
the  Chinese,  the  highest  that  she  had  known.  Once  she  was 
convinced  that  that  of  the  West  was  more  powerful  she  was 
quick  to  seize  upon  it  for  herself.  In  this  again  she  had  the 
advantage  of  China.  That  country  had  never  known  in- 
timately a  culture  equal  to  its  own.  It  had  for  centuries 
posed  as  a  teacher,  not  a  learner.  A  much  more  severe 
shock  than  that  which  aroused  Japan  was  needed  to  con- 
vince the  Middle  Kingdom  that  it  must  adapt  itself  to 
the  ways  of  the  Occident,  and  the  process  of  adjustment  was 
accordingly  more  delayed  in  beginning  and  has  been  more 
painful. 

Nor  is  it  strange  that  Japan,  having  been  so  apt  a  pupil, 
should  deem  herself  a  competent  teacher.    Now  that  she 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  91 

has  so  successfully  learned  of  the  Occident,  she  poses  as  the 
instructor  of  the  other  and  less  facile  peoples  of  the  Far 
East.  To  her  schools  come  students  from  all  the  Far 
East,  The  new  terms  that  she  has  coined  from  the  Chinese 
ideographs  for  objects  and  ideas  of  the  West  are  being 
taken  over  bodily  by  her  great  continental  neighbor.  She 
aspires  to  help  organize  on  the  modern  lines  that  she  has 
learned  from  the  Occident  the  industry  and  commerce, 
the  armies  and  the  diplomacy  of  the  huge  Oriental  republic. 

THE  CULTURE   OF   OLD  JAPAN 

StiU  another  characteristic  of  the  old  Japan  was  its  love 
of  the  beautiful.  This  aesthetic  sense  has  shown  itself  in 
painting,  sculpture,  ceramics,  lacquer,  and  architecture, 
in  landscape-gardening,  in  an  elaborate  code  of  politeness, 
in  flower  festivals,  the  tea  ceremony,  in  the  manufacture 
and  decoration  of  swords,  in  dancing,  and  a  score  of  other 
ways.  It  would  be  out  of  place  in  a  book  of  this  size  and 
scope  to  go  into  any  but  the  briefest  of  discussions  of  these, 
interesting  as  they  are.  Art  was  largely  influenced  by 
Chinese  models.  The  great  masters  of  the  T'ang,  the  Sung, 
the  Yiian,  and  the  Ming  dynasties,  all  had  their  followers  in 
Japan.  Each  art  revival  on  the  continent  was  felt  in  Japan. 
There  were  developed,  however,  vigorous  native  schools, 
and  even  in  following  the  foreign  schools  the  islanders 
showed  originality.  Like  their  Chinese  prototypes,  Japan- 
ese works  of  art  show  the  strong  influence  of  Buddhism. 
Like  them,  too,  the  ideal  is  not  so  much  a  photographic 
reproduction  of  nature,  as  an  attempt  to  catch  its  spirit. 
To  Buddhism  the  visible  world  is  transient,  and  it  is  natural 
that  art  produced  in  its  atmosphere  should  seek  to  depict 
the  soul  that  is  back  of  the  visible,  to  portray  emotions  as 


90  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

they  admired  the  civilization  of  the  continent,  they  were 
not  content  to  be  slavish  copyists.  Bushido  is  very  different 
from  Confucianism  and  Buddhism.  The  Chinese  written  lan- 
guage was  partly  adjusted  to  Japanese  needs  by  the  inven- 
tion of  syllabic  marks.  A  true  Japanese  literature  and  art 
were  produced,  as  different  from  continental  models  as  was 
any  national  art  or  literature  in  medieval  Europe  from  those 
of  the  Roman  world.  The  Japanese  were  not  overwhelmed 
by  the  flood  of  culture  from  the  continent  as  was  the  Amer- 
ican Indian  by  that  of  Europe;  they  built  on  it,  as  did  the 
peoples  of  Northern  Europe  on  that  of  the  Mediterranean 
b5,sin,  a  civilization  of  their  own. 

This  experience  in  assimilating  alien  ideas  and  institutions 
was  an  admirable  preparation  for  the  coming  of  the  Eu- 
ropean. Japan  had  for  centuries  been  accustomed  to  em- 
brace and  adapt  new  ideas  from  abroad.  Her  national  pride 
caused  her  to  be  fearful  of  any  charge  of  barbarism,  and  her 
past  made  it  natural  for  this  pride  to  lead  her,  not  to  reject 
the  culture  of  the  Occident,  but  to  hasten  to  adopt  as  much 
of  it  as  she  needed.  She  had  assimilated  the  civilization  of 
the  Chinese,  the  highest  that  she  had  known.  Once  she  was 
convinced  that  that  of  the  West  was  more  powerful  she  was 
quick  to  seize  upon  it  for  herself.  In  this  again  she  had  the 
advantage  of  China.  That  country  had  never  known  in- 
timately a  culture  equal  to  its  own.  It  had  for  centuries 
posed  as  a  teacher,  not  a  learner.  A  much  more  severe 
shock  than  that  which  aroused  Japan  was  needed  to  con- 
vince the  Middle  Kingdom  that  it  must  adapt  itself  to 
the  ways  of  the  Occident,  and  the  process  of  adjustment  was 
accordingly  more  delayed  in  beginning  and  has  been  more 
painful. 

Nor  is  it  strange  that  Japan,  having  been  so  apt  a  pupil, 
should  deem  herself  a  competent  teacher.    Now  that  she 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  91 

has  so  successfully  learned  of  the  Occident,  she  poses  as  the 
instructor  of  the  other  and  less  facile  peoples  of  the  Far 
East.  To  her  schools  come  students  from  all  the  Far 
East.  The  new  terms  that  she  has  coined  from  the  Chinese 
ideographs  for  objects  and  ideas  of  the  West  are  being 
taken  over  bodily  by  her  great  continental  neighbor.  She 
aspires  to  help  organize  on  the  modern  lines  that  she  has 
learned  from  the  Occident  the  industry  and  commerce, 
the  armies  and  the  diplomacy  of  the  huge  Oriental  republic. 

THE  CULTURE   OF   OLD  JAPAN 

StiU  another  characteristic  of  the  old  Japan  was  its  love 
of  the  beautiful.  This  aesthetic  sense  has  shown  itself  in 
painting,  sculpture,  ceramics,  lacquer,  and  architecture, 
in  landscape-gardening,  in  an  elaborate  code  of  politeness, 
in  flower  festivals,  the  tea  ceremony,  in  the  manufacture 
and  decoration  of  swords,  in  dancing,  and  a  score  of  other 
ways.  It  would  be  out  of  place  in  a  book  of  this  size  and 
scope  to  go  into  any  but  the  briefest  of  discussions  of  these, 
interesting  as  they  are.  Art  was  largely  influenced  by 
Chinese  models.  The  great  masters  of  the  T'ang,  the  Sung, 
the  Yuan,  and  the  Ming  dynasties,  all  had  their  followers  in 
Japan.  Each  art  revival  on  the  continent  was  felt  in  Japan. 
There  were  developed,  however,  vigorous  native  schools, 
and  even  in  following  the  foreign  schools  the  islanders 
showed  originality.  Like  their  Chinese  prototypes,  Japan- 
ese works  of  art  show  the  strong  influence  of  Buddhism. 
Like  them,  too,  the  ideal  is  not  so  much  a  photographic 
reproduction  of  nature,  as  an  attempt  to  catch  its  spirit. 
To  Buddhism  the  visible  world  is  transient,  and  it  is  natural 
that  art  produced  in  its  atmosphere  should  seek  to  depict 
the  soul  that  is  back  of  the  visible,  to  portray  emotions  as 


92  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

much  as  matter.  Users  of  the  Chinese  character  hold  callig- 
raphy to  be  a  fine  art,  and  their  emphasis  upon  line  is  nat- 
urally carried  over  into  painting.  If  allowance  is  made  for 
these  differences  in  ideals,  however,  the  best  work  of  Japan 
will  bear  comparison  with  much  of  the  best  of  the  Occident. 
Painting  has  a  long  and  brilliant  history.  The  collec- 
tions to  be  found  in  America  and  Europe  and  the  enthusiasm 
of  its  Western  students  bear  witness  to  its  appeal  to  a  more 
than  national  artistic  sense.  The  enumeration  of  its  dis- 
tinct schools  and  great  masters  would  alone  require  several 
pages,  and  there  is  room  here  for  only  a  few.  There  was 
the  Tosa  school,  largely  Japanese  in  its  subjects  and  meth- 
ods. There  was  the  priest  Meicho  (1351-1427),  or  Cho 
Densu,  who  gave  himself  to  portraying  the  divinities  and 
themes  of  the  Buddhism  faith.  There  was  Sesshu  (1420- 
1506),  also  a  priest,  who  after  a  close  study  of  the  great 
Chinese  masters  in  their  home  land  branched  out  on 
lines  of  his  own  and  left  behind  him  figures  and  especially 
landscapes  that  five  to-day.  A  younger  contemporary  of 
Sesshu,  Kano  Motonobu  (1476-1559),  the  son  of  a  painter, 
showed  a  wide  variety  of  subjects  and  styles  and  founded  a 
school,  the  Kano,  which  still  has  adherents.  All  of  these 
had  catered  to  the  aristocracy.  Hishigawa  Moronobu 
(1646-17 13),  an  embroiderer's  draughtsman  and  so  of  the 
lower  orders,  showed  the  growing  importance  of  the  com- 
mon people  under  the  Tokugawa  in  his  portrayals,  in  the 
splendid  technique  of  the  old  schools,  of  the  life  that  he  saw 
around  him  He  gave  an  impulse  too,  to  illustrations  for 
books  and  wood-engravings,  a  means  of  education  and 
amusement  for  his  own  class.  Okyo  also  illustrated  the 
tendencies  of  the  Tokugawa  era.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
farmer,  and  attempted  to  break  away  from  the  canons  of 
the  Chinese  schools  and  to  paint  nature  exactly  as  he  saw  it. 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  93 

Then  there  is  color  printing  of  broadsides  and  illustrated 
books,  also  a  development  of  the  Tokugawa  age,  and  pri- 
marily for  the  masses.  It  seems  to  have  been  distinctively 
a  Japanese  idea  and  not  to  have  been  introduced  from  the 
continent. 

There  were  noted  sculptors  in  wood,  and  workers  in 
'metal,  including  those  who  erected  the  great  bronze  statues 
cf  Buddha  that  still  charm  the  traveller.  Lacquer  and 
inlay  work  were  known  and  remarkably  well  executed. 
Porcelain  had  long  been  imported  from  China  before  it  was 
produced  in  Japan,  but  the  Japanese  later  spent  much 
labor  and  skill  in  its  production.  A  complete  history  of 
pottery  would  fill  several  large  volumes.  There  were  many 
different  schools,  often  named  from  a  locality,  or  from  a 
feudal  fief  whose  chief  was  a  patron  of  the  arts.  The  best 
examples  of  the  architecture  of  the  past  are  to  be  found  in 
Buddhist  temples  and  in  the  few  remaining  feudal  castles. 
The  well  known  buildings  that  adorn  the  mausoleum  of 
lyeyasu  at  Nikko,  for  example,  are  the  delight  of  all  who 
see  them.  Part  of  the  landscape  gardening  is  too  grotesque 
to  appeal  to  an  Occidental,  but  most  of  it,  of  a  naturalistic 
school,  has  a  real  charm  for  him.  Some  of  it  is  in  miniature, 
and  stunted  trees  are  trained  with  infinite  care  to  reproduce 
the  forms  of  those  of  normal  size.  The  flower  festivals  at 
the  cherry  blossom  season  are  national  hoHdays. 

The  leisure  of  the  imperial  court  circles  and  later  of  the 
daimyo  under  the  Tokugawa  gave  opportunity  for  the 
beauty-loving  soul  of  the  people  to  express  itself  in  elaborate 
and  exquisitely  perfect  etiquette.  The  courtesy  of  the 
period  has  come  down  to  the  present,  although  at  times 
rudely  shaken  by  the  bustle  of  the  industrial  twentieth 
century.  Japanese  politeness  has  become  proverbial,  and 
the  disregard  for  it  that  Western  nations  have  at  times 


94  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

shown  in  their  dealings  with  Tokyo  has  frequently  helped  to 
produce  friction.  The  ceremony  of  tea  drinking  with  its 
different  schools  and  minute  regulations,  the  development 
of  the  burning  and  judging  of  incense  into  an  elaborately 
ordered  pastime  of  the  leisured,  the  skill  that  went  into  the 
manufacture  and  decoration  of  the  sword  of  the  samurai, 
all  seem  to  be  outgrowths  of  a  spirit  that  sets  great  store 
upon  the  beautiful.  Dancing,  much  of  it  ceremonial,  goes 
back  to  the  earliest  historic  times  and  is  said  to  have  taken 
its  rise  in  the  days  of  the  Sun  Goddess.  The  aesthetic  spirit 
has  of  recent  years  been  at  times  prostituted  for  commer- 
cial purposes,  but  it  still  survives  and  is  one  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  Japan  of  to-day. 

Of  the  literature  of  the  old  Japan  but  little  need  be  said. 
Here,  although  rather  less  than  in  the  fine  arts,  she  was 
strongly  influenced  by  China.  Only  in  poetry  did  she 
refuse  to  conform  to  foreign  models  and  fully  show  her 
originality.  This  poetry,  because  of  its  peculiar  canons, 
defies  adequate  translation  into  Western  tongues.  Japan 
has  had  the  drama,  said  in  its  beginning  to  have  been  asso- 
ciated with  Shinto,  but  later  deeply  colored  by  Buddhist 
ideas.  Still  later  it  became  completely  secular  and  popular 
in  form  and  content. 

Japan  has  not  shown  a  creative  spirit  in  philosophy, 
ethics,  or  religion  equal  to  that  which  molded  the  life  of 
China,  India,  or  the  Semitic  races.  Her  sons  have  rather 
been  content  to  adapt  divergent  alien  systems  to  their  own 
necessities,  and  to  build  on  contributions  from  abroad.  The 
philosophers  of  China  were  studied  and  at  times  criticized. 
Buddhist  priests  arose  who  thought  with  a  sufiiciently 
vigorous  independence  to  be  founders  of  new  sects,  but  no 
Japanese  has  appeared  who  ranks  in  originality  with 
Gautama,  Confucius,  Chu  Hsi,  Socrates,  or  Kant. 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  95 

Family  solidarity  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  old^ 
Japan  that  has  persisted  in  spite  of  the  altered  conditions 
of  a  new  age.  It  has  been  one  of  the  ever  present  factors  in 
Japanese  life.  Each  man  must  be  loyal  to  his  parents, 
serving  them  while  they  are  living,  honoring  them  after 
their  death.  The  family  must  be  continued  by  male  heirs 
that  the  forefathers  may  not  lack  descendants  to  pay  them 
honor.  Marriage  was  universal,  and  failing  offspring,  adop- 
tion could  be  resorted  to  to  continue  the  ancestral  line. 
Obedience  to  parents  has  been  one  of  the  cardinal  virtues. 
The  family  was  more  important  by  far  than  the  individual 
and  each  must  subordinate  his  wishes  to  it.  The  individ- 
ualism of  the  Occident  would  have  been  the  rankest  of 
heresies.  Here  the  influence  of  Chinese  teachings  and 
models  has  been  very  great.  In  China  even  more  than  in 
Japan,  the  family  is  the  unit,  and  there  are  those  who  be- 
lieve that  before  the  advent  of  Chinese  culture  the  family 
was  of  but  small  importance  in  Japan.  Here  also  is  again 
the  Japanese  electicism.  Filial  piety  was  not  as  important 
as  loyalty,  and  filial  duties  are  perhaps  less  institutional  and 
more  sentimental  than  in  China. 

The  wife  was  more  abjectly  subordinated  to  the  husband 
than  in  the  great  continental  empire.  Absolute  obedience, 
self-effacement,  and  fidelity  were  required  of  her,  and  yet 
her  husband  might  be  unfaithful  or  divorce  her  almost  at 
will.  Within  her  sphere  she  might  be  greatly  honored,  but 
she  was  always  the  subject  of  her  lord.  It  must  be  added, 
however,  that  the  Japanese  wives  were  not  without  their 
charm,  and  a  very  real  one:  Those  of  the  higher  classes 
were  models  of  unobtrusive  courtesy;  they  had  a  decided 
influence  over  the  yoimger  years  of  the  children,  and  left 
an  indelible  stamp,  chiefly  for  good,  upon  the  morals  of  each 
new  generation.     The  work  of  the  women  of  the  feudal 


96  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

classes,  while  unspectacular,  was  noble  and  far-reaching  in 
its  effects.  The  wife  by  her  intense  loyalty  and  self-efface- 
ment inspired  her  husband  to  maintain  his  ideals  and  to 
preserve  toward  his  lord  something  of  the  same  attitude. 
The  wives  of  the  humbler  strata  of  society  were  real  help- 
meets for  their  husbands  and  frequently  shared  in  the  bread- 
winning.  There  have  been  empresses  on  the  imperial 
throne,  although  only  two  of  these  have  sat  there  in  recent 
centuries.  The  difference  in  the  status  of  women  in  China 
and  Japan  is  possibly  one  that  is  natural  between  a  civiliza- 
tion that  is  essentially  agricultural  and  commercial  and  one 
that  was  primarily  military. 

RELIGION  AND  ETHICS   OF  OLD  JAPAN 

In  the  sphere  of  religion  the  Japanese  have  not  been  crea- 
tors of  the  first  rank.  They  have  been  religious,  and  deeply 
so.  Their  fine  loyalty  has  made  them  willing  to  die  for  a 
faith  once  adopted,  as  was  seen  in  the  persecutions  of 
Christianity.  But  their  religious  sentiments  seem  to  be 
influenced  largely  by  their  appreciation  of  the  beautiful 
and  by  a  matter-of-fact  attitude  toward  life.  They  have 
not  been  given  to  original  philosophical  or  theological  spec- 
ulation, nor  even  to  daring  innovations  in  the  field  of  ethics. 
They  have  largely  been  eclectic;  all  of  their  religious  beliefs 
are  either  foreign  in  their  origin  or  have  been  profoundly 
influenced  by  foreign  ideas.  Their  primitive  faith,  it  will 
be  remembered,  seems  to  have  been  a  very  simple  affair. 
They  honored  various  spirits,  the  many  divinities  that  had 
been  created  by  the  naive  attempts  of  the  race  to  account 
for  the  beginnings  of  the  world,  of  life,  and  the  nation. 
There  were  the  Sun  Goddess  and  hosts  of  other  dieties. 
The  spirits  of  great  warriors  were  reverenced.     A  few 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  97 

scholars  have  even  suggested,  although  on  very  doubtful 
evidence,  that  the  gods  of  the  aborigines  whom  the  Japanese 
drove  out  may  have  been  adopted,  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  potent  in  the  conquered  land  and  must  be  propitiated. 
There  were  the  beginnings  of  what  resembles  taboo,  and  a 
method  of  ceremonial  purification  by  water  and  wind. 
There  were  no  images,  no  ornate  temples,  and  no  priestly 
caste.  Such  ethical  standards  as  existed  had  little  connec- 
tion with  religious  belief. 

Under  the  influence  of  continental  thought  and  institu- 
tions, this  primitive  religion  became  much  changed.  The 
stories  of  the  gods  and  goddesses  were  recorded  by  those 
who  were  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  Chinese  cosmogony 
and  other  foreign  myths,  and  in  the  process  were  altered 
past  hope  of  accurate  restoration.  The  primitive  faith 
seems  to  have  been  modified  to  exalt  the  power  of  the  mon- 
arch and  to  emphasize  his  divine  origin.  For  centuries  the 
native  cult  was,  as  it  still  is,  primarily  associated  with  the 
ruling  house.  The  Chinese  reverence  for  ancestors  was  in- 
troduced, and  that  phase  of  the  indigenous  faith  that  had  to 
do  with  the  names  of  the  departed  was  accentuated.  Ama- 
terasu,  the  Sun  Goddess,  the  ancestress  of  the  emperor,  was 
honored,  as  were  the  spirits  of  the  rulers  of  the  past. 

Buddhism  came  in,  and  for  the  first  time  the  native  faith 
achieved  self-consciousness  and  was  given  a  name,  Shinto, 
Chinese  in  origin,  meaning  "the  way  of  the  Gods,"  as  dis- 
tinguished from  Buppo  "the  law  of  the  Buddha."  For  a 
time  Shinto  seemed  about  to  be  absorbed  by  Buddhism, 
for  clever  monks  identified  the  Japanese  divinities  as  in- 
carnations of  Buddhist  saints  and  deities. 

The  indigenous  faith  persisted,  however,  in  the  imperial 
household  and  in  shrines  through  the  country.  During 
Tokugawa  times  it  was  revived  by  the  group  of  scholars 


98  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

who  were  seeking  to  emphasize  the  native  as  contrasted 
with  the  foreign,  and  the  attempt  was  made  to  purify  it  of 
many  of  its  alien  elements.  It  passed  over  from  the  Toku- 
gawa  to  the  new  age  and  with  the  restoration  of  the  emperor 
achieved  a  marked  official  extension  in  a  more  purely  native 
form.  Its  temples  are  now,  as  they  have  traditionally  been, 
simple  buildings,  reproducing  more  nearly  than  any  other 
structures  the  form  of  the  primitive  Japanese  house.  They 
have  caretakers,  who  form  a  sort  of  hierarchy  of  priests  but 
are  not  powerful  as  a  class.  There  is  no  image  within  them, 
but  there  are  emblems  of  the  deity,  usually  a  sword,  mirror, 
or  jewel,  the  insignia  said  to  have  been  given  by  the  Sun 
Goddess  to  the  imperial  ancestors.  Before  the  shrines  are 
the  torii,  resembling  ornamental  gateways.  There  was  and 
is  no  ethical  system  enforced  by  Shinto,  and  it  induces  but 
Uttle  sense  of  moral  or  spiritual  guilt.  Its  ceremonies  are 
confined  to  formal  lustrations,  to  honoring  the  spirits  of  em- 
perors, of  national  heroes  and  ancestors,  to  entreating  bless- 
ings on  the  nation,  and  asking  for  protection  from  evil. 

In  Buddhism,  on  the  other  hand,  the  old  Japan  had  a 
most  highly  developed  religion.  The  faith  had  come  to  the 
nation  with  all  the  wealth  of  the  philosophy,  art,  and  or- 
ganization that  it  had  acquired  in  the  course  of  its  growth 
in  India,  Central  Asia,  and  China.  Its  philosophy  was 
elaborate,  teaching  that  this  world  is  but  a  passing  show,  a 
delusion;  that  man  is  chained  to  it  and  to  suffering  in  an 
endless  series  of  rebirths,  his  lot  in  each  new  one  being  deter- 
mined by  his  karma,  a  term  that  is  rather  lamely  but  suc- 
cinctly defined  as  meaning  the  sum  of  his  actions  good  and 
bad  in  preceding  existences.  Man  is  to  seek  and  to  find 
salvation  by  escaping  from  the  transient  world  and  the 
chain  of  existence  through  the  means  provided  by  the  faith. 
These  means,  it  may  be  recalled,  were  various,  differing 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  99 

somewhat  with  each  sect.  Buddhism  had  a  voluminous 
literature.  It  erected  magnificent  temples,  adorned  with 
all  the  beauty  and  skill  known  to  the  art  of  the  lands  through 
which  it  had  passed,  and  with  the  gifts  of  generations  of 
pious  believers.  Its  celibate  priesthood  formed  a  powerful 
hierarchy,  often  noted  for  learning,  devotion,  and  ability. 
It  had  a  large  pantheon,  a  complete  calendar  of  holidays  and 
feasts,  and  encouraged  pilgrimages  to  shrines  of  noted 
sanctity.  It  had  been  the  principal  vehicle  by  which 
civilization  had  been  brought  to  Japan,  and  it  had  received 
the  support  of  generations  of  emperors,  nobles,  and  feudal 
chiefs.  Buddhism,  indeed,  occupied  in  Japan  much  the 
position  that  the  Catholic  Church  held  in  the  Europe  of 
the  middle  ages.  Both  were  the  means  of  bringing  to  a 
semi-barbarous  people  a  superior  and  older  civilization. 
Both  dominated  society  by  their  philosophy,  learning,  and 
priesthood,  and  their  elaborate  rituals,  their  art  and  ar- 
chitecture. There  were  six  principal  sects,  it  will  be  re- 
called, most  of  them  of  foreign  origin.  Each  of  these  devel- 
oped sub-sects,  and  there  were  several  minor  sects.  But 
while  there  have  been  jealousies  and  quarrels  between 
these  divisions  there  has  never  been  an  Inquisition  and  never 
mutual  persecutions  comparable  to  those  that  have  marred 
the  relations  of  Christian  bodies.  In  the  later  years  of  the 
Tokugawa,  it  will  be  remembered.  Buddhism  began  to  lose 
its  hold  on  the  thinking  men  of  the  nation.  The  masses  still 
believed  in  it,  but  the  educated  were  inclined  to  follow  the 
teachings  of  the  great  philosophers  of  the  Confucian  school. 
It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  there  was  the  sharp 
division  between  religions  that  one  finds  in  the  Occident. 
The  Japanese  for  some  purposes  would  frequent  the  Shinto 
shrines,  for  others  the  Buddhist  temples,  and  could  still  pay 
reverence  at  his  ancestral  graves  and  follow  the  moral  pre- 


lOO  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

cepts  of  the  Chinese  sages  without  any  feeling  of  inconsist- 
ency. Even  if  he  had  largely  lost  his  faith  in  Buddhism, 
he  would  still  resort  to  its  burial  rites  for  his  kinsmen,  much 
as  an  agnostic  in  Christian  lands  is  apt  to  desire  the  services 
of  the  church  at  funerals  and  weddings. 

Confucianism  has  been  a  determining  factor  in  the  life 
and  thought  of  Japan.  From  the  time  that  continental 
culture  had  first  reached  the  islands  the  Chinese  classical 
writings  had  been  studied,  although  by  only  a  few  until  the 
Tokugawa  regime.  After  the  time  of  lyeyasu  Confucius 
and  Mencius  were  honored  and  had  fully  as  profound  an 
influence  upon  the  feudal  classes  as  had  Aristotle  upon 
medieval  Europe.  Under  the  early  Tokugawa,  especially, 
Chinese  literature  and  the  Chinese  sages  were  extremely 
popular  with  the  miUtary  class.  Even  after  the  Japanese 
revival  of  the  middle  and  later  years  of  the  Tokugawa,  when 
the  native  religion,  language,  literature,  and  institutions 
were  given  renewed  attention  by  many  scholars,  Chinese 
ethics  remained  popular  with  most  of  the  samurai. 

The  effects  of  Confucianism  on  Japan  were  many.  An- 
cestor worship,  so  essential  a  part  of  the  Chinese  system, 
flourished.  The  five  relationships  of  the  classics,  between 
prince  and  minister,  father  and  son,  husband  and  wife, 
younger  brother  and  older  brother,  and  friend  and  friend, 
became  cardinal  points  in  the  Japanese  moral  code,  al- 
though with  modifications  due  to  local  conditions  and  habits 
of  mind.  Loyalty  of  the  vassal  to  his  lord,  complete  sub- 
servience of  the  children  to  the  paternal  will,  subordination 
of  the  wife  to  the  husband  even  to  the  point  of  self-efface- 
ment, were  encouraged.  The  moral  precepts  taught  in  the 
schools  to-day  are  largely  Confucian  in  their  form. 

Bushido,  the  ethical  code  of  the  military  classes,  reminds 
one  of  the  chivalry  of  feudal  Europe.    As  it  existed  under 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN  loi 

the  later  Tokugawa,  it  was  the  result  of  years  of  develop- 
ment. It  seems  to  go  back  at  least  to  the  time  when  the 
military  class  was  forming.  Under  the  successors  of  lyeyasu 
it  was  elaborated  and  largely  made  over  until  it  lost  some 
rather  unlovely  features  of  its  earlier  years.  It  was  essen- 
tially Japanese,  but  in  its  later  and  elaborated  form  it 
showed  the  influence  of  Confucianism  and  Buddhism,  espe- 
cially the  former.  Confucius  and  Mencius,  to  whom  the 
Chinese  system  named  from  the  first  owed  its  classical 
form,  it  may  be  added,  lived  and  worked  under  a  feudal 
organization  which  in  some  respects  resembled  that  of 
Japan.  The  adaptation  of  Chinese  ethics  to  bushido  was 
thus  facilitated.  Perhaps  one  may  say,  although  the 
parallelism  must  not  be  pushed  too  far,  that  somewhat  as 
chivalry  showed  the  influence  of  the  teachings  of  the 
Christian  church,  so  bushido  gave  evidences  of  having 
grown  up  in  an  environment  in  which  Buddhism  and  Confu- 
cianism were  present. 

Loyalty  was  the  cardinal  virtue  of  bushido.  The  samurai 
must  sacrifice  life,  truth,  and  even  his  family  if  the  ser- 
vice of  his  lord  required  it.  With  the  passing  of  feudal- 
ism, one  may  say  in  parenthesis,  the  nation,  personified 
in  the  emperor,  has  absorbed  the  loyalty  previously 
paid  to  the  daimyo.  Filial  piety,  the  devotion  to  one's 
parents  and  ancestors,  although  subordinate  to  loyalty,  was 
prominent.  Family  unity,  promoted  by  filial  piety  and  by 
the  duties  of  brothers  to  one  another,  was  marked.  Frugal- 
ity, simplicity  of  Hfe,  and  indifference  to  wealth  were 
exalted.  For  recreation  military  amusements  were  en- 
couraged. Bread-winning  pursuits  and  regard  for  money 
affairs  were  held  in  contempt.  The  warrior  above  all 
valued  self-control  in  the  presence  of  pain,  and  steeled  him- 
self to  endure  the  most  intense  agony  without  flinching. 


I02  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Personal  honor  was  highly  esteemed  and  the  sword  of  the 
samurai,  the  sign  of  his  rank,  although  it  must  not  be 
drawn  but  for  the  gravest  reasons,  was  ever  held  ready  to 
avenge  a  slight  to  its  owner  or  to  its  owner's  lord.  Honor 
was  dearer  than  life  and  ?n  many  exigencies  seK-destruction 
was  regarded  not  simply  as  right,  but  as  the  only  right 
course.  Disgrace  and  defeat  were  atoned  for  by  suicide,  and 
on  the  death  of  a  daimyo  loyal  followers  might  show  their 
grief  and  affection  by  it.  The  knight  might  protest  against 
grave  injustice  by  suicide,  and  might  by  the  same  means  try 
to  dissuade  his  lord  from  unwise  or  unworthy  action.  Part 
of  the  training  of  every  samurai  was  the  ritual  for  disem- 
bowelment,^  the  approved  means  of  self-destruction,  and 
one  of  the  highest  tests  of  his  character  was  to  be  able,  if 
the  occasion  demanded,  to  perform  it  calmly  and  without 
flinching.  If  condemned  to  death,  it  was  held  to  be  a 
privilege  to  execute  the  sentence  on  one's  own  body  and  to 
be  a  disgrace  to  die  at  the  hands  of  the  public  headsman. 
This  stoicism  and  disregard  for  the  material  accessories  of 
life  were  especially  encouraged  by  the  Zen  sect.  This,  it  will 
be  remembered,  had  been  marked  by  a  stem  disciphne  and 
fostered  self-reliance,  and  had  been  modified  by  Con- 
fucianism. 

The  wife  of  the  samurai  was  also  influenced  by  bushido. 
She  was  to  be  self-effacing,  and  was  to  hide  all  traces  of 
suffering  or  grief.  She  was  taught  how  to  end  her  life  with 
decorum  in  case  the  occasion  seemed  to  demand  it.  By  her 
example  she  exercised  a  profound  influence  over  her  hus- 
band. 

Magnanimity  to  a  defeated  enemy  was  encouraged. 
Fidelity  to  one's  plighted  word  was  part  of  the  code,  as  was 
faithfulness  to  principle  and  to  friends.  These  considera- 
*  Called  seppuku  or,  more  vulgarly,  hara  kiri. 


THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  OLD  JAPAN         103 

tions  took  precedent  over  an  exact  regard  for  objective 
facts. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  bushido,  any  more  than 
chivah-y,  was  lived  up  to  by  all  those  who  professed  to  be 
guided  by  it.  The  samurai  seldom  attained  to  even  his  own 
standards. 

z:As-iirthe  rase  of  chivahy,  bushido  profoundly  influenced 
not  only  the  upper  classes,  for  whom  it  was  primarily  in- 
tended, but  the  civil  population  as  well.  The  lower  orders 
of  society  copied  as  far  as  possible  the  ethics  as  well  as  the 
manners  of  the  warrior.  Bushido,  like  chivalry,  was  to 
remain  an  active  force  long  after  the  social  order  that  had 
produced  it  had  disappeared. 

Such  were  the  more  prominent  features  of  the  organiza- 
tion and  life  of  the  old  Japan.  They  were  to  be  profoundly 
modified  and  some  of  them  later  disappeared,  but  they  have 
left  an  indelible  stamp  upon  the  ideals  and  the  culture  of  the 
nation. 

For  fiirther  reading  see:  Chamberlain,  Things  Japanese; 
Griffis,  The  Mikado's  Empire;  Binyon,  Painting  in  the  Far  East; 
FenoUosa,  Epochs  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  Art;  Morrison,  The 
Painters  of  Japan;  Aston,  A  History  of  Japanese  Literature; 
Chamberlain,  Japanese  Poetry;  Mitford,  Tales  of  Old  Japan; 
Aston,  Shinto,  The  Way  of  the  Gods;  Gulick,  The  Evolution  of  the 
Japanese;  Heam,  Japan,  An  Attempt  at  Interpretation;  Knox, 
The  Development  of  Religion  in  Japan;  Lloyd,  The  Creed  of  Half 
Japan;  Nitobe,  Bushido,  The  Soul  of  Japan;  Brinkley,  Japan, 
Its  History,  Arts  and  Literature. 


lo6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

precedentedly  short  time  and  to  transport  goods  in  quan- 
tities hitherto  undreamed  of.  In  North  America  the  ex- 
pansion of  the  United  States  had  brought  European  peoples 
to  the  east  coast  of  the  Pacific;  Oregon  and  Cahfornia  were 
settled  in  the  eighteen  forties  and  fifties.  The  Russians  had 
reached  the  west  coast  after  a  mighty  advance  across  the 
vast  reaches  of  Siberia,  and  had  formed  settlements  in  the 
Amur  country  and  Alaska.  Before  long  the  Pacific  would 
teem  with  a  new  commerce  and  the  nations  of  eastern  Asia 
would  be  compelled  to  open  their  doors.  By  1850  nearly  all 
India  had  been  brought  under  either  the  direct  or  the  in- 
direct control  of  Great  Britain.  The  Enghsh,  having  found 
China's  restrictions  on  trade  intolerable,  had  fought  a  war 
with  her  which  was  ended  in  1842  by  a  treaty  ^  opening 
five  ports  to  trade  and  making  provision  for  commerce  and 
official  intercourse  between  the  two  nations.  This  treaty 
was  quickly  followed  by  others  between  China  and  the  lead- 
ing powers  of  the  Occident.  It  was  inevitable  that  pressure 
would  soon  be  put  on  Japan  to  end  her  hermit  existence. 
,  During  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  were 
'  repeated  indications  of  an  approaching  attempt  of  Western 
powers  to  open  Japan.  The  Dutch,  through  their  closely 
regulated  intercourse  at  Nagasaki,  brought  news  of  im- 
pending changes.  Here  and  there  Japanese  were  learning 
Dutch  and  through  the  medium  of  that  language  were 
getting  an  inkling  of  the  importance  of  the  civilization  of 
Europe.  A  few  European  works  on  history,  geography, 
literature,  and  science  were  read.  From  the  time  when 
some  native  surgeons  dissected  a  human  body  and  found 
that  it  was  more  accurately  described  by  the  Dutch  an- 
atomical works  than  by  the  Chinese,  there  were  those  who 
saw  that,  the  culture  of  the  West  was  in  some  respects  supe- 
*  The  treaty  of  Nanking. 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       107 

rior  to  that  of  the  East,  and  wished  to  know  more  of  it. 
Russian  ships  appeared  on  the  northern  coasts  as  early  as 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  envoys  from  the  Czar  asked 
(1804)  that  regular  intercourse  be  established,  only  to  be 
met  with  a  peremptory  refusal.  Russians  and  Japanese 
came  into  conflict  in  the  Kuriles  and  Sakhalin,  and  the 
Japanese  were  worsted.  The  Russians  might  have  forced 
themselves  on  Japan  proper  had  the  Napoleonic  wars  not 
intervened  to  engross  their  attention  elsewhere.  In  1846 
a  French  ship  touched  at  the  Riu  Kiu  archipelago  and  ad- 
vised the  islanders  to  place  themselves  under  French  pro- 
tection as  a  guard  against  the  British.  In  1847  the  king  of 
Holland  advised  the  Japanese  to  abandon  their  policy  of 
exclusion,  and  in  1849  warned  them  that  an  American  fleet 
might  soon  be  expected.  Ships  of  other  European  nations 
touched  at  Japan  from  time  to  time. 

THE  PERRY  EXPEDITION  AND  RESULTS 

Fortunately  the  move  that  finally  opened  the  country 
was  made  by  the  United  States,  a  power  that  had  no  ter- 
ritorial ambitions  in  the  Far  East.  The  American  merchant 
marine  was  at  that  time  relatively  much  more  important 
than  it  became  after  the  losses  of  the  Civil  War.  American 
ships  had  gone  to  all  corners  of  the  earth  and  in  the  Far 
East  were  second  in  numbers  only  to  those  of  England. 
Japanese  fishermen  were  occasionally  driven  across  the 
Pacific  to  the  Aleutians  or  to  the  coast  of  North  America. 
In  1837  one  ship  ^  made  its  way  nearly  to  Yedo  in  the  effort 
to  return  a  few  such  castaways,  and,  if  possible,  to  open 
commerce.  She  was  fired  upon,  and  returned  to  Canton 
without  having  landed  her  charges.  American  whalers 
1  The  "Morrison." 


io8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

gradually  became  numerous  in  the  North  Pacific  and  in 
several  instances  were  wrecked  on  the  Japanese  islands. 
The  surviving  sailors  were  confined,  often  handled  roughly, 
and  as  a  rule  were  returned  to  the  outside  world  only 
through  the  kindness  of  the  Dutch.  Some  arrangements 
were  necessary  with  the  shogun's  government  to  insure  good 
treatment  and  rescue  for  the  crews.  In  1846  an  American 
commodore  ^  asked  in  the  name  of  the  president  that  inter- 
course be  opened,  only  to  be  refused.  In  1848  the  American 
brig  Preble  threatened  to  bombard  Nagasaki  unless  fifteen 
foreign  seamen  held  there  were  immediately  handed  over. 
California  was  acquired  in  the  forties,  and  ships  were  soon 
sailing  from  San  Francisco  to  the  new  treaty  ports  of  China. 
Since  Japan  lay  in  the  direct  path  of  such  vessels,  its  ports, 
if  opened,  would  offer  convenient  places  for  restocking  with 
water  and  provisions,  and  for  refitting.  The  shipping, 
especially  the  whaling  interests  in  the  United  States,  asked 
the  administration  to  insist  that  the  country  unlock  its 
doors.  Finally  the  American  government  responded  and 
sent  a  squadron  under  Commodore  Perry  to  obtain  a  treaty.  - 
In  1853  Perry  arrived  in  Araga  bay  near  Yedo  with  a  fine 
display  of  force,  transmitted  the  president's  letter  to  the 
Japanese  authorities,  and  since  there  seemed  to  be  no  imme- 
diate prospects  of  successful  negotiations,  sailed  away, 
announcing  that  it  was  his  intention  to  return  the  following 
spring.  His  coming  created  an  unprecedented  commotion 
in  the  island  kingdom.  The  shogun's  ministers  were  sorely 
perplexed.  Even  the  imperial  court  was  stirred  and  ordered 
prayers  said  at  the  great  national  shrines.  Perry  returned, 
according  to  promise,  the  following  spring.  Before  his 
steam  warships  the  Yedo  authorities  felt  themselves  power- 
less, and  after  some  negotiations  concluded  a  treaty. 
'  Commodore  Biddle. 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       109 

Japan's  isolation  was  not  yet  entirely  at  an  end.  The 
Perry  treaty  did  not  provide  for  the  complete  opening  of  the 
country.  Its  emphasis  was  not  upon  commerce,  but  upon 
the  care  and  safe  delivery  of  shipwrecked  sailors,  and  the 
provisioning  and  refitting  of  passing  vessels.  Two  ports 
were  opened,  one  (Shimoda)  near  Yedo  and  one  (Hakodate) 
on  the  northern  island.  An  American  consulate  was  to  be 
permitted  at  Shimoda;  trade  was  to  be  carried  on  only  in 
accordance  with  local  regulations,  which  might  be  stringent; 
suppUes  for  vessels  were  to  be  purchased  only  through  Jap- 
anese officials.  The  most-favored-nation  clause,  customary 
in  the  West,  guaranteed  to  Americans  any  concessions  that 
might  be  made  to  other  powers.  In  the  two  years  following 
the  Perry  treaty  similar  covenants  were  obtained  by  Eng- 
land, Russia,  and  Holland,  but  in  none  of  them  was  res- 
idence or  extensive  commerce  and  intercourse  provided  for. 
In  1857  Townsend  Harris,  the  United  States  consul-general, 
obtained  for  American  citizens  the  privilege  of  residing 
in  the  open  ports,  to  which  was  now  added  Nagasaki.  The 
foreigners  were  to  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  their  consuls 
and  not  of  Japanese  officials  and  laws.  Commerce  was  pro- 
vided for  in  1858  by  a  further  treaty  with  the  United  States, 
also  negotiated  by  Harris,  which  remained  for  many  years 
a  model  docxmient  of  its  kind  and  was  in  force  until  1899. 
By  this  last  treaty  customs  duties  were  provided  for,  and 
a  fixed  scale  was  agreed  upon  which  was  not  to  be  changed 
without  the  consent  of  both  nations.  The  reception  of 
diplomatic  representatives  at  the  court  and  the  opening  of 
an  additional  port  were  also  granted.  It  ought  to  be  added 
that  Townsend  Harris  obtained  these  treaties  from  the 
shogun,  not  by  any  display  of  force,  but  mainly  by  his 
sympathy,  tact,  and  persistence.  The  provisions  for  ex- 
territoriality and  the  treaty-established  tariff  were  a  partial 


no  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

sacrifice  by  Japan  of  her  sovereign  rights,  the  struggle  to 
regain  which  was  to  be  a  prominent  feature  in  the  nation's 
history  for  the  next  thirty-five  or  forty  years.  By  the  first, 
foreigners  were  removed  from  the  control  of  Japanese 
courts :  ^  by  the  second,  the  nation  surrendered  the  right  to 
establish  its  own  tariff  dues.  Both  were  very  galling  to  the 
sensitive,  patriotic  spirit  of  the  people  after  their  significance 
was  recognized.  Almost  simultaneously  with  the  American 
treaty  of  1858  similar  ones  were  signed  with  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Russia,  and  others  soon  followed  with  twelve 
more  Western  powers.  Just  at  this  time  France  and  Eng- 
land were  engaged  in  a  war  with  China,  in  an  attempt  to 
force  her  doors  still  further  open.  As  an  added  effort  at 
European  expansion  in  the  Far  East  this  war  probably  had 
some  influence  in  hastening  the  negotiations  of  the  new 
Japanese  treaties.  To  exchange  the  ratifications  of  the 
American  document  Japanese  envoys  were  sent  to  the 
United  States,  the  first  diplomatic  mission  to  visit  foreign 
lands. 

DIVERGENT  VIEWS   ON  ADMISSION  OF  FOREIGNERS 

The  negotiation  of  these  treaties  was  not  at  all  supported 
by  a  unanimous  national  sentiment.  In  fact,  the  coming  of 
the  foreigner  divided  the  nation  into  three  camps.  The 
strife  between  these  was,  within  a  few  years,  to  bring  to  an 
end  the  dual  form  of  government,  and  to  pave  the  way 
for  the  transformation  of  the  political  structure  of  Japan. 
One  camp  was  made  up  of  those  who  recognized  the  supe- 
riority of  Western  culture,  and  the  impossibility  of  ignoring 
it.  They  were  in  favor  of  receiving  the  foreigner,  and  learn- 
ing from  him  as  quickly  as  possible  in  the  endeavor  to  match 
him  with  his  own  weapons  and  at  his  own  game.    As  Japan 

*  For  a  longer  explanation  of  exterritoriality  see  below,  page  154. 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       in 

had  in  years  past  adopted  Chinese  civilization,  the  highest 
that  she  then  knew,  so  these  reformers  would  have  the  na- 
tion now  accept  that  of  the  Occident,  for  it  was  proving 
itself  to  be  more  powerful  and  efficient  than  that  of  the 
neighboring  continent.  This  group,  at  first  very  small, 
was  to  predominate  within  a  decade  and  a  half.  As  time 
went  on  it  saw  that  the  dual  form  of  government  was  an 
anachronism  and  a  handicap  in  dealing  with  the  centralized 
powers  of  the  Occident.  Some  of  its  members  began  to  work 
for  the  restoration  to  the  emperor  of  the  powers  exercised 
by  the  bakufu.  In  this  respect  they  found  themselves  in 
accord  with  the  native  school  of  historians  who  had  come 
to  regard  the  shogun  as  a  usurper.  A  second  group  saw 
the  impossibility  of  remaining  a  hermit  nation,  but  believed 
in  opening  the  door  only  as  far  as  was  insisted  on  by  the 
powers.  That  was  the  prevailing  sentiment  at  the  court  of 
the  shogun.  The  third  believed  in  keeping  the  door  tightly 
shut,  in  abrogating  all  agreements  with  the  Westerner, 
and  in  ousting  him  and  all  his  ways.  This  opinion  was  for 
much  of  the  time  the  prevailing  one  at  Kyoto.  The  im- 
perial court  was  not  in  contact  with  the  foreigner  and  the 
incumbent  of  the  throne  was  presumed  to  be  reactionary. 
The  court  was,  moreover,  from  time  to  time  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Western  fiefs.  Of  these  the  most  prominent  were 
Satsuma  and  Choshu.  From  the  time  of  lyeyasu,  it  will  be 
remembered,  they  had  paid  the  shogun  only  a  grudging 
submission;  they  were  hence  not  inclined  to  yield  him  un- 
questioning obedience  in  his  decision  to  admit  the  foreigners. 
At  first  they  had  no  fixed  ideas  on  the  question  and  were 
divided  both  between  and  among  themselves.  In  time, 
however,  they  arrived  at  the  conviction  that  to  admit  the 
Westerner  was  treason  and  that  they  should  oppose  it 
with  all  their  might.    They  sought  to  win  the  ear  of  the 


112  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

emperor  and  induce  him  to  assert  his  authority  and  compel 
the  shogun  to  cancel  the  treaties. 

THE  SHOGUN'S  difficult  POSITION 

The  struggle  increasingly  centered  around  Kyoto.  Each 
faction  hoped  that  the  emperor  would  side  with  them. 
Part  of  the  time  the  Western  fiefs  had  his  ear,  and  inspired 
by  them  he  ordered  the  shogun  to  expel  the  barbarians. 
The  shogun  could  not  comply,  for  he  knew  himself  to  be 
powerless  before  the  cannon  of  the  foreign  gunboats.  Nor 
did  he  dare  to  refuse  point-blank,  for  that  would  be  ac- 
claimed by  his  opponents  as  disobedience  to  his  master, 
and  the  rising  tide  of  national  sentiment  would  not  brook 
such  an  insult  to  the  legal  head  of  the  state.  The  shogun 
therefore  temporized.  On  the  one  hand  he  promised 
Kyoto  to  carry  out  its  wishes  but  asked  for  leeway.  On  the 
other  he  continued  his  intercourse  with  the  powers  but 
delayed  as  much  as  possible  the  granting  of  concessions,  so 
much  so,  in  fact,  that  foreigners,  not  understanding  his 
dilemma,  accused  him  of  insincerity.  Had  the  shogun's 
ministers  at  the  beginning  expressed  their  determination  not 
to  refer  foreign  affairs  to  Kyoto  they  might  with  fimmess 
have  carried  their  point,  but  they  compromised  and  were 
undone.  Not  willing  to  ignore  Kyoto,  the  Yedo  court 
sought  to  control  it.  The  youthful  shogun  was  married  to 
an  imperial  princess,  and  later  journeyed  to  Kyoto  to  pay 
homage  to  the  emperor  and  receive  his  orders. 

THE  END  OF  THE   SHOGUNATE 

The  situation  was  fast  becoming  an  impossible  one  for  the 
shogun.  The  numbers  of  Westerners  in  the  treaty  ports 
were  increasing.    Commerce  was  growing.    Even  Christian 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       113 

missionaries  were  entering  and,  sheltered  by  the  foreign 
settlements,  were  propagating  their  faith  in  spite  of  the 
anti-Christian  sentiment  bred  by  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  prohibitory  edicts.    Serious  clashes  occurred  be- 
tween the  reactionary  feudatories  and  the  Occidentals. 
Foreigners    were    frequently    attacked    and    occasionally 
killed  by  samurai  who  thought  thus  to  show  their  anger 
against  the  barbarian  who  had  violated  the  sacred  soil  of 
Japan,  and  to  aid  in  his  expulsion.    In  1862  some  English- 
.  men  chanced  to  meet  the  retinue  of  the  daimyo  of  Satsuma 
/  on  a  public  road  and  violated,  ignorantly  but  rather  in- 
solently, the  Japanese  etiquette  for  such  occasions.    They 
.were  attacked  by  the  lord's  followers  and  one  of  them  was 
!^' ^killed.    The  Yedo  government  made  ample  apology  and 
^  w  paid  an  indemnity,  but  the  Satsuma  baron  refused  to  sur- 
^  render  the  guilty  samurai  as  the  EngHsh  demanded  and  the 
V    shogun  was  not  strong  enough  to  compel  him  to  do  so.   The 
British  therefore  in  1863  sent  a  naval  force  to  the  Satsuma 
dominions  in  KLiushiu  and  bombarded  the  capital  (Kago- 
shima) .   The  other  leading  Western  fief,  Choshu,  determined 
in  the  same  year  to  take  action  against  the  hated  barbarians. 
It  commanded  the   straits   of  Shimonoseki,   the  narrow 
passage  through  which  passed  foreign  ships  on  their  way 
between  Shanghai  and  the  east  coast  of  Japan  and  North 
America.    An  edict  from  the  emperor  had  been  issued  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  the  shogun,  ordering  that  the  for- 
eigners be  expelled.    Choshu  gladly  obeyed,  and  the  forts  at 
the  straits  fired  at  several  vessels,  American,  Dutch,  and 
French.     The   powers   concerned,    together   with    Great 
Britain,  joined  in  demanding  of  the  shogun  that  the  truc- 
ulent daimyo  be  punished,  but  this  the  bakufu  was  quite 
unable  to  do.    In  fact,  the  Choshu  lord  killed  the  ambas- 
sador sent  to  him  from  Yedo.    The  four  powers  now  sent  a 


114  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

squadron  to  Shimonoseki,  bombarded  and  demolished  the 
forts,  and  destroyed  the  daimyo's  ships.  That  feudatory 
thereupon  promised  the  powers  that  he  would  not  rebuild 
his  forts  nor  molest  foreign  ships  and  also  agreed  to  pay  the 
sum  of  three  million  dollars.  The  shogun  sent  an  expedition 
against  Choshu  to  punish  the  fief  for  its  insubordination, 
but  could  accomplish  nothing.  He  even  assumed  the 
indemnity  when  Choshu  failed  to  pay  it.  The  last  install- 
ment of  the  indemnity,  it  may  be  added,  was  not  paid  until 
1875.  The  Americans'  share  proved  much  larger  than  was 
necessary  to  cover  the  costs  and  damages  sustained,  and 
later  they  returned  the  entire  amount  to  the  Japanese. 

The  foreign  ministers  had  at  first  been  ignorant  of  the 
true  nature  of  the  relation  of  the  shogun  to  the  emperor. 
They  had  regarded  the  former  as  the  supreme  ruler  of  the 
land  and  the  latter  as  a  kind  of  high  priest.  In  the  course 
of  time  they  discovered  their  mistake  and  after  the  Shi- 
monoseki affair  the  able  British  Minister,  Sir  Harry  Parkes, 
led  in  a  demand,  which  had  been  planned  before  his  ar- 
rival, for  the  ratification  of  the  treaties  by  the  emperor. 
Backed  by  an  allied  fleet,  the  request  was  presented  not  at 
Yedo,  but  at  Hiogo,  a  port  near  Kyoto.  The  immediate 
opening  to  foreign  residence  of  that  city  and  Osaka,  the 
port  of  the  capital,  and  a  reduction  of  the  customs  duties 
were  requested.  Terrified  by  the  show  of  force,  the  emperor 
issued  an  edict  sanctiom'ng  the  treaties,  and  the  promised 
reduction  of  the  tariff  was  agreed  to.  This  incident  finally 
made  apparent  the  failure  of  the  shogun.  He  had  not  closed 
the  land  against  the  foreigner  as  he  had  promised:  he  had 
not  even  been  able  to  prevent  the  barbarian  from  threaten- 
ing with  his  fleet  the  entrance  to  the  imperial  city.  He  had 
been  treated  by  the  foreigners  as  a  minister  who  was  fast  be- 
coming discredited  with  his  master.  The  emperor,  under  the 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       115 

guidance  of  the  Western  fiefs,  vigorously  asserted  his  author- 
ity and  disgraced  the  bakufu  for  the  bungling  way  in  which 
its  representatives  had  handled  the  negotiations  at  Hiogo. 
The  shogun  resigned,  but  the  emperor  was  not  yet  ready 
tgjsissume  the  responsibility  of  accepting  his  resignation. 

CThe  young  shogun  soon  died  and  was  succeeded  by  a 
ature  man  who  attempted  to  restore  the  waning  fortunes 
of  the  Tokugawa  by  a  cordial  acceptance  of  Western  meth- 
ods. He  began  the  reform  of  his  army  and  navy  and  of  the 
Yedo  court,  and  continued  to  try  to  coerce  the  Choshu  fief 
into  obedience.  He  was  too  late,  however,  to  save  his 
office.  An  increasingly  strong  national  sentiment  de- 
manded that  the  incompetent  Tokugawa  restore  its  del- 
egated power,  and  in  1867  the  shogun  recognized  that  to 
attempt  longer  to  keep  up  the  dual  government  would  be 
to  court  disaster  for  himself  and  the  nation.  Accordingly  he 
resigned  (October  14, 1867),  and  an  imperial  decree  followed 
declaring  his  office  abolished  and  the  duarchy  at  an  end. ) 
Some  of  the  followers  of  the  Tokugawa  resented  the  mannef^ 
in  which  Kyoto,  under  the  control  of  the  Western  fiefs,  was 
accomplishing  the  transfer  of  the  government  from  the 
bakufu  to  the  emperor,  and  raised  the  standard  of  revolt. 
The  insurrection  was  quickly  put  down  by  the  loyal  daimyo, 
however,  and  the  prestige  of  the  imperial  power  was  only 
enhanced.  The  system  first  founded  by  Yoritomo,  seven 
centuries  before,  had  been  brought  to  an  end,  and  the 
emperor  once  more  exercised  direct  control  over  his  do- 
mains. The  ex-shogun  retired  to  private  life.  He  lived  to 
see  all  the  changes  of  the  next  generation  and  did  not  die 
until  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

For  further  reading  see:  Griffis,  The  Mikado's  Empire; 
Brinkley,  A  History  of  the  Japanese  People;  Brinkley,  Japan, 
lis  History,  Arts,  and  Literature. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Period  of  Internal  Transformation  (1853-1894) 

2.  THE  reorganization  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  FROM  THE 
RESTORATION  OF  THE  EMPEROR  TO  THE  WAR  WITH 
CHINA   (1868-1894) 

The  end  of  the  shogimate  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new 
age.  Henceforth  the  ofi&cial  policy  of  the  nation  was  reform 
on  Western  hnes.  The  leaders  who  engineered  the  em- 
peror's restoration  had  come  to  recognize  that  the  foreigner 
must  be  accepted.  At  their  advice  the  monarch  annomiced 
his  intention  to  abide  by  the  treaties  made  by  the  shogim 
and  to  supervise  directly  the  relations  with  the  powers. 
Only  eight  months  before  the  resignation  of  the  last  shogun 
had  come  the  death  of  the  emperor  Komei.  Although  only  a 
young  man,  he  had  been  loyal  to  the  old  order,  and  in  so  far 
as  his  own  personal  opinions  went  was  rabidly  anti-foreign. 
His  successor,  Meiji,^  was  a  lad  of  only  fourteen  when  he 
ascended  the  throne,  and  was  naturally  imder  the  influence 
of  his  advisers.  As  he  came  to  manhood's  estate  he  heartily 
accepted  the  ideals  of  the  new  age.  Although  the  progress 
of  his  reign  was  due  primarily  to  his  councillors,  he  did  not 
hinder  them  by  reactionary  tendencies.  He  was  hard- 
working, tactful,  and  sanely  progressive.  He  had  the  good 
judgment  so  to  accept  advice  and  so  to  act  in  conjunction 
with  his  ministers  that  it  is  hard  at  times  to  determine  just 

'  Meiji  is  his  regnal  name.  His  personal  name,  by  which  he  is  fre- 
quently referred  to  in  foreign  books,  was  Mutsuhito.  He  was  bom 
November  3,  1852. 

Z16 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       117 

how  much  positive  influence  he  had  on  the  policies  of  his 
reign.  Had  he  been  more  self-assertive  and  less  tactful  and 
well  poised,  he  might  have  been  a  serious  hindrance  instead 
of  a  help,  and  his  reign  would  have  had  a  different  history. 
By  injudicious  acts  he  might  have  come  to  grief  as  had 
Go-Daigo  in  an  earlier  attempt  at  the  restoration  of  im- 
perial power. 

The  Western  fiefs  that  had  been  so  instnmiental  in  bring- 
ing about  the  downfall  of  the  shogun  had  at  first  been 
actuated  by  hatred  of  the  foreigner.  As  time  passed,  how- 
ever, they  became  convinced  that  the  Westerner  could  not 
be  expelled.  Satsimia  and  Choshu,  two  of  the  leading  forces 
in  the  coalition,  had  experienced  a  change  of  heart  after 
their  rough  handling  by  the  foreign  fleets.  They  realized 
that  the  "barbarian"  was  in  Japan  to  stay,  however  much 
they  might  dislike  him,  and  that  he  could  be  met  only  with 
his  own  weapons.  They  became  hearty  champions  of 
Western  methods  and  provided  modem  equipment  for 
their  troops.  Each  may  possibly  have  hoped  to  substitute 
itself  for  the  Tokugawa  in  a  kind  of  revised  shogunate,  but 
as  time  passed  they  saw  that  the  old  order  could  not  be 
revived  and  that  the  control  of  the  government  must  be 
exercised  through  other  channels.  Their  adherents,  to- 
gether with  those  of  two  other  Southern  fiefs,  Hizen  (in 
Kiushiu)  and  Tosa  (in  Shikoku),  dominated  the  new  govern- 
ment, to  be  sure,  although  not  quite  so  completely  as  the 
Tokugawa  had  the  old,  and  were  to  maintain  that  mastery 
for  many  years.  The  army  and  navy  are  still  imder  their 
control  and  their  voice  is  strong  in  national  coimcils.  But 
the  shogunate  was  dead  and  national  affairs  were  hence- 
forth to  be  conducted  through  the  instruments  of  the 
new  age,  a  bureaucracy,  the  cabinet,  and  the  Elder  States- 
men. 


Ii8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 


THE  CENTRALIZATION  OF   THE  ADMINISTRATION 

To  the  support  of  the  young  emperor  came  all  the  rad- 
icals, a  growing  number,  who  desired  a  complete  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  nation,  and  who  saw  in  the  restored  imperial 
authority  the  opportunity  to  develop  a  monarchy  and  a 
government  of  the  European  type.  The  revolution  of  1867 
had  been  the  work  of  these  men,  most  of  them  samurai  of 
the  lower  ranks,  not  nobles,  and  they  were  to  be  the  real 
architects  of  the  new  Japan.  The  old  order  was  not  to  die 
without  a  struggle;  all  the  nation  had  not  yet  heartily 
accepted  the  foreigner.  From  now  on,  however,  the  history 
of  the  country  was  to  be  one  of  steady  development  and 
transformation.  The  "year  period"  that  nearly  spanned 
the  emperor's  reign  was  rightly  and  prophetically  called 
Meiji,  "enlightened  government."  ^ 

From  1868  to  1894,  when  foreign  affairs  began  to  be  dom- 
inant in  the  national  mind,  the  chief  interest  of  the  nation 
was  to  be  in  domestic  reorganization.  The  main  features 
of  this  period  of  internal  transformation  may  be  con- 
veniently classified  under  political  and  constitutional  devel- 
opment, foreign  relations,  economic  progress,  intellectual, 
educational,  and  literary  innovations,  and  religious  and 
ethical  changes.  The  constitutional  and  political  changes 
can  best  be  treated  first. 

The  end  of  the  shogunate  was  of  course  only  the  first 

^The  Japanese  have  the  custom,  derived  from  China,  of  dating 
events  not  by  centuries  or  by  reigns,  but  by  reign  names.  These  are 
not  necessarily  coextensive  with  reign  of  the  sovereign,  for  the  name 
may  be  changed  several  times  during  the  life  of  one  monarch.  The 
Meiji  era  began  January  25,  1868.  The  emperor  Meiji  had  ascended 
the  throne  January  13,  1867.  The  Meiji  era  ended  with  his  death, 
July  30,  1912. 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       119 

step  toward  the  reorganization  of  the  government.  The 
first  need  of  the  state  was  centralization.  The  nation  must 
act  as  a  unit  if  it  was  to  succeed  in  competing  with  Occiden- 
tal powers.  It  must  have  nicely  articulated  political 
machinery  that  would  operate  on  every  individual  in  the 
land,  and  that  could  be  directed  by  a  united  executive. 
The  first  step  toward  centralization  had  been  taken  when 
the  shogunate  was  abolished,  but  it  was  only  the  first  step. 
There  was  no  adequate  machinery  for  carrying  on  the 
government  under  the  new  regime.  For  nearly  eight  hun- 
dred years  the  emperor  had  delegated  his  authority  to  the 
bakufu  and  precedents  for  the  organization  of  the  state 
under  his  direct  supervision  had  to  be  sought  for  in  the  re- 
forms of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries.  At  first  (1868)  a 
kind  of  ministry  or  council  was  formed,  intended  to  be  some- 
what like  the  one  copied  from  the  China  of  the  T'ang 
dynasty.  It  was  made  up  of  members  of  the  Western  fiefs 
and  of  the  court  nobility.  It  could  be  but  little  more  than 
a  makeshift,  pending  the  time  when  something  better  could 
be  found.  It  was  not,  however,  an  exact  copy  of  its  an- 
cient prototype,  since  provision  was  made  for  a  deliberative 
gathering  of  the  samurai  and  court  nobility.  This  assem- 
bly, which  actually  met  in  1869,  was  an  abortive  attempt 
to  adapt  to  Japanese  use  the  representative  institutions  of 
the  Occident. 

In  1868  the  capital  was  moved  from  Kyoto  to  Yedo, 
which  was  now  renamed  Tokyo,  "Eastern  Capital,"  and 
the  emperor  took  up  his  residence  in  the  castle-palace  of 
the  shogxm.  The  change  emphasized  the  break  with  the 
seclusion  and  impotence  of  the  past  and  the  assumption  by 
the  emperor  of  the  functions  formerly  intrusted  to  the  sho- 
gun.  No  longer  was. the  monarch  kept  in  veiled  seclusion, 
but  rode  out  openly  to  show  his  face  to  his  subjects  and  to 


I20  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

receive  their  homage.  The  transfer  of  the  capital  also 
brought  the  emperor  nearer  to  the  geographic  center  of  his 
domains,  and  by  establishing  the  seat  of  his  government  on 
the  coast  it  gave  an  unmistakable  demonstration  of  his 
frank  and  cordial  acceptance  of  intercourse  with  foreigners 
and  facilitated  his  relations  with  them.  This  attitude 
toward  the  Westerners  was  reenforced  by  an  edict  de- 
nouncing all  violence  against  them,  and  by  an  imperial 
audience  to  the  representatives  of  the  treaty  powers. 

Shortly  after  the  restoration  the  emperor's  advisers  put 
in  his  mouth  a  "  charter  oath  "  to  indicate  the  lines  on  which 
future  changes  were  to  be  made.  This  remarkable  document 
has  been  somewhat  freely  translated  as  follows: 

"The  practice  of  argument  and  debate  shall  be  univer- 
sally adopted  and  all  measures  shall  be  decided  by  impar- 
tial discussion. 

"High  and  low  shall  be  of  one  mind,  and  social  order 
shall  thereby  be  perfectly  maintained.  It  is  necessary  that 
the  civil  and  military  powers  be  concentrated  in  a  single 
whole,  that  the  rights  of  all  classes  be  assured  and  the  na- 
tional mind  be  completely  satisfied. 

"The  uncivilized  customs  of  former  times  shall  be  broken 
through,  and  the  impartiality  and  justice  displayed  in  the 
working  of  nature  shall  be  adopted  as  a  basis  of  action. 

"Intellect  and  learning  shall  be  sought  for  throughout 
the  world,  in  order  to  establish  the  foundations  of  the 
Empire." 

Here  was  a  combination  of  the  old  and  the  new,  a  mixture 
of  Chinese  and  Japanese  philosophy  and  phraseology  with 
Western  ideas.  The  Confucian  cosmogony,  the  foreshad- 
owing of  parliamentary  government,  the  centralization  of 
the  state,  the  determination  to  learn  from  the  entire  world, 
were  all  in  it. 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       121 

With  the  oath  came  another  adjustment  of  the  machinery 
of  government,  including  principally  a  council  of  state  ^ 
which  was  to  have  the  control  of  the  government  for  some 
years. 

With  the  passing  of  the  shogunate  and  the  coming  of 
the  new  age,  feudalism  was  evidently  an  anachronism. 
Already  under  the  peace  imposed  by  the  Tokugawa  it  had 
begun  to  lose  its  strength.  Its  armies,  in  which  the  in- 
dividual prowess  of  the  warrior  and  the  glory  of  each  fief 
were  valued  more  than  discipline  and  group  strategy,  would 
be  of  but  little  use  in  defense  against  a  European  power. 
Its  decentralization  was  a  handicap  in  the  struggle  for  na- 
tional solidity  and  reorganization.  With  the  loss  of  its 
head,  the  shogun,  and  the  reassertion  of  the  authority  of 
the  civil  arm,  represented  by  the  emperor,  its  continuation 
would  be  an  anomaly.  The  reform  leaders,  as  a  rule  drawn 
from  the  ranks  of  the  samurai  of  the  more  progressive  fiefs, 
were  the  first  to  recognize  the  wisdom  of  abandoning  the 
old  system,  and  a  public  agitation  for  abolishing  feudalism 
began.  Civil  officials  were  appointed  to  represent  the  cen- 
tral government  in  each  of  the  fiefs,  and  a  bureaucracy  con- 
trolled by  Tokyo  was  thus  begun.  In  1869  the  four  great 
daimyo  of  the  southwest  offered  to  the  emperor  the  reg- 
isters of  their  lands  and  people  as  a  symbol  of  the  transfer 
to  him  of  the  local  administration.  Then  followed  a  re- 
markable spectacle,  a  splendid  example  of  the  old  loyalty 
and  the  newly  aroused  patriotism  of  the  empire;  the  vast 
majority  of  the  nearly  three  hundred  remaining  feudal 
lords  voluntarily  surrendered  their  fiefs.  No  longer  was 
the  allegiance  of  the  samurai  to  be  first  of  all  for  the  daimyo; 
no  longer  was  Japan  to  be  a  loose  collection  of  fiefs.  The 
love  of  country  for  which  the  centuries  of  imion  under  the 
^  Daijokwan. 


122  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Tokugawa  and  the  loyalty  inculcated  by  bushido  were  a 
preparation  had,  within  a  few  years,  been  aroused  by  con- 
tact with  Western  peoples  and  had  made  possible  a  unified 
administration  under  the  emperor.  The  daimyo  must 
not,  however,  be  regarded  as  moved  purely  by  an  impulse 
to  voluntary,  heroic  self-abnegation.  Strong  pressure  was 
brought  to  bear  on  them  by  the  reformers.  Numbers 
of  them  had  long  exercised  only  a  nominal  authority:  in 
the  decay  of  feudalism  the  real  power  in  many  fiefs  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  ministers  and  retainers,  and  the 
daimyo  were  not  averse  to  giving  up  a  power  of  which  they 
had  only  the  shadow.  Moreover,  the  central  government 
guaranteed  the  feudatories  incomes  of  one-tenth  of  their 
former  revenues,  and  the  expenses  of  local  administration 
need  no  longer  be  met  by  them.  The  surrender  of  the  fiefs 
was  followed  (187 1)  by  an  imperial  edict  which  finally 
abolished  feudalism. 

The  pensions  which  were  promised  the  ex-daimyo  and 
samurai  proved  to  be  so  heavy  a  drain  on  the  national 
exchequer  that  before  many  months  the  emperor's  ad- 
visers were  endeavoring  to  find  some  means  of  reducing 
them.  In  1873  a  plan  was  announced  for  commuting  the 
pensions  for  cash  and  government  bonds.  Although  the 
established  proportion  for  commutation  provided  the 
samurai  with  sums  the  return  from  which  would  be  much 
less  than  their  pensions,  many  of  them  willingly  acceded, 
partly  out  of  patriotism,  partly  out  of  ignorance  of  business 
methods,  and  partly  because  the  code  of  the  samurai  had 
insisted  that  it  was  beneath  his  dignity  to  be  seriously 
concerned  about  money.  Before  long  (1876)  commutation 
was  made  compulsory  and  the  special  support  by  the  state 
of  an  hereditary  warrior  caste  came  to  an  end. 

The  end  of  feudalism  was  followed  in  the  course  of  the 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       123 

next  few  years  by  acts  which  perfected  as  thoroughly  a 
centralized  government  as  the  most  highly  organized  states 
of  the  Occident.  In  the  first  place,  for  the  old  feudal  army 
made  up  of  contingents  furnished  by  individual  fiefs  and 
recruited  exclusively  from  the  samurai,  there  was  substi- 
tuted a  national  army,  drawn  from  aU  ranks  of  society.  To 
no  class  was  there  now  reserved  the  privilege  of  defending 
the  state;  the  opportunity  for  doing  so  was  not  only  offered, 
but  forced  upon  all  by  a  system  of  compulsory  military 
training  and  service  which  applied  to  men  of  suitable  age 
regardless  of  station  or  birth.  The  new  army  was  first 
patterned  after  French  models,  and  then,  subsequent  to  the 
Franco-Prussian  war,  after  the  German  system. 

An  act  essentially  related  to  this  nationalizing  of  military 
service  was  the  removal  of  many  of  the  old  social  distinc- 
tions. The  difference  between  the  civil  or  court  nobility 
and  the  military  class  was  abolished.  The  new  aristocracy 
that  was  later  created  was  neither  civil  nor  military,  but 
national.  The  former  distinctions  between  the  warriors  and 
the  commoners  were  cancelled.  Within  the  commoner  class 
itself  the  ancient  gradations  which  had  condemned  certain 
groups  to  hereditary  dishonor  and  had  imposed  on  one  of 
them  the  opprobrious  title  of  "not  human"  (hi-nin)  were 
annulled.  Many  of  the  samurai  voluntarily  laid  aside  their 
swords,  the  badge  of  their  rank:  in  1876  the  rest  were 
compelled  to  do  so.  All  subjects  of  the  emperor  were  now 
on  an  equal  footing  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  From  the  ranks 
of  the  ex-samurai,  however,  came  most  of  the  leaders  of  the 
new  Japan,  and  while  the  class  ceased  to  have  a  legal 
existence,  individual  members  of  it,  by  force  of  character 
and  tradition,  were  to  dominate  and  guide  the  nation  for 
years  to  come. 

In  place  of  the  local  administration  by  feudal  lords,  an 


124  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

elaborate  bureaucracy  was  organized.  Its  members  were 
appointed  by  and  were  responsible  to  the  authorities  in 
Tokyo,  and  to  it  was  intrusted  the  entire  administration  of 
the  country,  local  as  well  as  national.  Through  it  the 
humblest  subject  of  the  emperor  was  protected  and  super- 
vised by  the  direct  representatives  of  the  monarch  himself. 
At  its  inception  the  bureaucracy  was  naturally  recruited 
largely  from  members  of  the  samurai  class,  for  these  were  the 
only  ones  who  were  trained  in  governmental  administra- 
tion. No  one  was  allowed  to  hold  ofl5ce  in  the  fief  of  which 
he  had  been  a  member,  however,  and  as  time  went  on  the 
ranks  of  the  civil  service  were  recruited  from  the  successful 
candidates  at  competitive  examinations.  These  last  were 
open  to  all  classes,  regardless  of  birth,  and  have  helped  to 
bring  into  official  life  large  numbers  of  men  who  are  not  of 
the  military  class.  The  model  and  precedent  for  this 
bureaucracy  were  found  partly  in  the  reforms  of  the  seventh 
and  eighth  centuries.  The  Japanese  of  the  Meiji  era,  how- 
ever, were  influenced  as  well  by  Occidental  models,  the 
example  of  Germany  being  especially  potent  later. 

The  leaders  in  the  reform  movement  early  planned  a 
national  code  of  laws.  The  feudal  customs  of  the  old  days, 
varjdng  from  fief  to  fief,  could  not  meet  the  conditions  of 
the  new  age.  Moreover,  exterritoriality,  which  seemed  to 
reflect  on  the  character  of  existing  courts  and  laws  by 
exempting  foreigners  from  their  jurisdiction,  was  gall  and 
wormwood  to  the  sensitive  Japanese.  Impelled  by  the 
hope  of  ending  it  by  removing  the  cause  for  its  existence, 
the  new  government  pushed  as  rapidly  as  possible  the 
formation  of  codes  along  Occidental  lines.  By  187 1  two 
volumes  of  the  criminal  code  were  ready  and  some  offenses 
against  foreigners  were  tried  by  it.  The  use  of  torture  and 
of  punishments  which,  judged  by  Western  standards,  are 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       125 

excessive  or  barbarous,  was  abolished.  Trial  by  jury  was 
not  adopted,  but  a  collegiate  judiciary  was  instituted  and 
every  effort  was  made  to  render  it  eflScient  and  above  re- 
proach. 

The  currency  system  was  thoroughly  reorganized  and 
nationalized.  Under  the  old  regime  many  kinds  of  money 
had  been  in  circulation,  both  coin  and  paper.  Paper 
money,  suggested  by  Chinese  precedent,  had  been  in  use, 
and  each  fief  had  felt  itself  free  to  issue  it.  The  result  was 
confusion  and  instability.  The  newly  centralized  govern- 
ment was  under  the  necessity  of  instituting  a  uniform  na- 
tional currency.  The  support  of  the  mercantile  classes 
would  thus  be  assured,  and  every  new  coin  and  bill  would  be . 
evidence  to  the  public  of  the  power  of  the  emperor  and  the 
Tokyo  administration.  National  prosperity  would  also  be 
promoted.  A  commissioner  (Ito)  was  sent  to  the  United 
States  to  study  its  finances.  On  his  return  the  decimal 
system  was  introduced,  a  new  coinage  was  issued,  and  a 
plan  of  national  banks  and  paper  currency  was  adopted 
which  resembled  the  one  in  use  in  America.  At  the  advent 
of  Perry  the  ratio  of  gold  to  silver  in  Japan  had  been  about 
four  to  one.  Foreigners  had  quickly  taken  advantage  of 
the  situation  and  had  bought  up  all  of  the  more  precious 
metal  that  they  could  lay  hands  on,  exporting  it  under  the 
protection  of  the  treaties.  As  a  result  the  distressed  ofl&cials 
altered  the  ratio  to  the  fifteen  and  then  the  sixteen  to  one 
current  in  the  West.  But  in  the  meantime  gold  had  dis- 
appeared and  the  cheaper  silver  had  taken  its  place.  The 
process  was  helped  by  an  unfavorable  balance  of  trade. 
The  nominal  bimetallism  of  the  nation  was  destroyed  by 
these  agencies  and  the  currency  was  reduced  practically  to  a 
silver  basis;  the  nation  was  not  to  go  on  a  gold  basis  until 
after  the  Chino- Japanese  war.    Before  many  years  a  finan- 


126  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

cial  crisis  made  necessary  a  reorganization  of  the  banking 
system  and  the  American  plan  was  modified  by  the  founda- 
tion of  a  central  national  bank  along  the  lines  so  common 
in  Europe.^  This  strengthened  the  control  exercised  by  the 
central  government  over  the  banking  organization  of  the 
nation,  and  aided  as  well  in  the  marketing  of  the  government 
bonds  and  in  the  financing  of  its  other  undertakings. 

An  official  revival  of  Shinto  was  encouraged  to  increase 
the  respect  paid  to  the  emperor.  Under  the  early  Tokugawa 
Buddhism  had  had  more  official  favor  shown  it  than  had 
Shinto,  possibly  because  of  the  aid  it  afforded  in  exter- 
minating and  guarding  against  Roman  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity. During  the  last  years  of  the  Tokugawa  a  Shinto 
revival,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  helped  to  pave  the  way 
for  the  restoration  of  the  emperor's  power.  After  1869 
Buddhism,  while  still  recognized,  was  virtually  disestab- 
lished and  in  places  discouraged,  and  Shinto  became  the 
official  cult  of  the  nation.  Shinto  was  made  to  emphasize 
more  than  ever  the  memory  and  achievements  of  the  em- 
peror's ancestors,  and  became  closely  identified  with  the 
growing  spirit  of  patriotism.  Through  Shinto  a  religious 
tinge  was  given  to  the  love  of  country.  Patriotic  and  re- 
ligious enthusiasm  combined  to  emphasize  national  con- 
sciousness and  unity. 

A  national  postal  service  was  begun  even  before  the 
end  of  feudalism,  and,  supplemented  by  a  telegraph  sys- 
tem introduced  and  managed  by  the  government,  it  be- 
came an  efficient  instrument  for  promoting  national  con- 
sciousness. The  new  national  school  system,  of  which 
more  will  be  said  later,  was  directed  from  Tokyo  and  also 
helped  to  strengthen  the  unity  of  the  country. 

The  agents  of  this  transformation  and  centralization 
*  The  Bank  of  Japan  was  modeled  after  the  Bank  of  Belgium. 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION        127 

were  a  grv^up  of  young,  able  men,  drawn  almost  exclusively 
from  the  lanks  of  the  samurai.  For  the  most  part  they 
were  those  who  had  early  seen  the  necessity  of  admitting 
the  foreigner  and  adjusting  the  nation  to  his  ways,  and 
who  had  made  themselves  familiar,  often  at  grave  personal 
risk,  with  Western  civilization  either  by  residence  abroad 
or  by  diligent  study  and  travel.  Prominent  among  them 
were  Iwakura  and  Sanjo,  court 'nobles,  Kido,  Yamagata, 
Ito,  and  Inouye,  all  four  of  them  samurai  of  Choshu, 
Okubo  and  Saigo,  both  samurai  of  Satsuma,  and  two  other 
samurai,  Itagaki  and  Okuma,  the  one  of  Tosathe  other  of 
Hizen.  Others  equally  famous  in  their  time  might  be 
mentioned,  but  these  names  at  least  should  be  remem- 
bered by  all  who  seek  to  be  familiar  with  the  new  Japan. 
Most  of  them  were  from  the  South  and  Southwest,  from 
those  fiefs  which  had  been  prominent  in  bringing  about 
the  restoration.  Under  them  the  control  exercised  by  the 
southern  feudatories  over  the  government  was  to  be  main- 
tained for  many  years.  These  ex-feudatories  had  the  ear 
of  the  emperor  and  dominated  the  civil  bureaucracy  and 
the  army  and  navy.  Okuma  and  Itagaki  were  later  to 
break  with  the  others  and  to  head  Hberal  movements. 


OPPOSITION   TO  THE  NEW  ORDER 

This  centralization  of  the  government,  although  rela- 
tively and  strikingly  rapid,  was  not  the  work  of  one  year 
or  of  two,  and  was  not  finished  until  the  middle  of  the 
eighteen  eighties.  But  it  was  not  completed  without  a 
struggle  with  the  forces  of  the  old  regime.  The  mass  of 
the  nation,  it  is  true,  was  increasingly  in  sympathy  with 
the  reform  leaders,  but  nearly  every  step  in  advance  met 
with  violent  opposition.    It  was  some  years  before  West- 


128  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

emers  were  entirely  safe  from  the  swords  of  ar.ti-foreign 
rowdies  and  fanatics,  even  though  the  emperor  had  placed 
the  strangers  under  his  special  protection.  Irreconcilables 
haunted  the  unlighted  streets  and  alleys  of  Tokyo  at 
night  and  assailed  unwary  foreigners.  Two  samurai  at- 
tacked the  foreign  escort  of  the  British  minister  when  the 
latter  was  on  his  way  to  his  first  audience  with  the  em- 
peror. The  emperor's  ministers  were  often,  in  personal 
peril  of  violence  from  conservative  agitators,  and  at  least 
one,  Okubo,  actually  lost  his  life  at  their  hands.  Not  all 
the  nation  could  see  that  the  changes  were  wise.  Many 
bitterly  resented  the  abandonment  of  time-honored  Japa- 
nese customs  and  methods  for  the  foreign  ways.  Incipient 
insurrections  broke  out  from  time  to  time,  only  to  be  put 
down.  Finally,  in  1877,  the  opposition  culminated  in  a 
well  organized  rebellion  in  the  South,  the  suppression  of 
which  taxed  the  powers  of  the  new  government.  The  leader 
of  the  rebellion  was  Saigo,  a  samurai  of  Satsuma.  He  had 
been  among  the  reformers  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  re- 
organization movement.  However,  he  had  broken  with 
the  majority  of  the  group  who  were  at  the  head  in  Tokyo. 
He  had  wished  to  preserve  military  service  as  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  the  samurai,  and  had  opposed  the  creation  of 
the  national  army  recruited  by  conscription  from  all  ranks. 
He  had,  moreover,  favored  a  war  with  Korea.  That  coun- 
try had  haughtily  broken  oflf  relations  with  Japan  when 
the  latter  admitted  the  foreigner,  and  Saigo  would  have 
avenged  the  insult  with  an  armed  expedition.  Since  war 
would  check  internal  reorganization,  the  more  radical  re- 
formers opposed  him  and  Saigo  retired  from  the  cabinet. 
Leaving  Tokyo,  he  went  south  to  Satsuma  and  here  there 
began  gathering  around  him  all  the  forces  of  discontent. 
Imposing  in  person,  able,  apparently  the  embodiment  of 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       129 

all  the  virtues  of  the  samurai  of  the  old  school,  he  soon 
found  himself  surrounded  by  a  formidable  army.  All  those 
opposed  to  the  iconoclasm  of  the  ministry  to  the  seeming 
abandonment  of  the  nation's  individuality,  flocked  to  him. 
He  was  cordially  supported  by  the  ex-daimyo  of  Satsuma, 
who  was  himself  of  the  moderate  conservatives.  In  1877, 
the  Satsuma  discontents  raised  the  standard  of  revolt 
against  the  government.  Saigo,  probably  reluctantly,  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  dragged  into  the  rebellion  as  its 
head.*  Against  these  recalcitrant  samurai  were  brought 
the  forces  of  the  new  national  army  in  which  commoners 
and  ex-sumurai  fought  side  by  side.  The  Tokyo  govern- 
ment called  out  more  troops  than  were  actually  needed, 
partly  to  demonstrate  to  the  nation  the  eflSciency  of  the 
new  system  and  partly  to  insure  victory.  The  fighting 
was  fierce,  but  the  outcome  was  not  long,  if  ever,  in  doubt. 
The  Satsuma  rebels  were  defeated  and  those  of  their  leaders 
who  escaped  death  in  battle  committed  suicide.  The  new 
order  had  met  the  old  on  the  field  of  battle  and  had  con- 
clusively demonstrated  its  superiority.  The  new  national 
army,  drawn  from  all  classes,  had  overwhelmed  the  forces 
of  unreconciled  feudalism  and  serious  armed  opposition 
to  the  new  age  was  at  an  end. 

THE  MOVEMENT  TOWARD  CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT 

The  triumph  of  centralization  was  but  one  phase  of  the 
political  transformation  of  Japan.  A  little  later  in  its 
inception,  but  of  no  less  importance  and  absorbing  interest, 
was  a  movement  toward  constitutional  government,  the 

^  It  ought  to  be  added  that  Saigo's  motives  and  the  exact  process 
by  which  he  became  the  leader  of  the  revolt  have  been  a  mooted 
question. 


I30  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

result  of  contact  with  the  democracy  of  the  Occident.  All 
thoroughgoing  reformers  were  united  in  demanding  the 
end  of  feudalism  and  the  restoration  of  the  emperor.  One 
group  of  them,  however,  was  in  favor  of  an  autocracy  sup- 
ported by  a  bureaucracy,  and  another  believed  piat  the 
elected  representatives  of  the  nation  should  have  an  im- 
portant share  in  the  govenmient.  The  one  found  in  Ger- 
many and  the  Prussian  system  a  model  which  more  nearly 
than  any  other  in  the  Occident  represented  its  ideal.  It 
was  supported  by  the  conservative  ex-samurai,  a  majority 
of  that  body,  and  retained  control  of  the  government.  The 
other  represented  different  shades  of  opinion,  but  in  the 
main  saw  its  ideal  in  England  and  the  limited  monarchies 
of  the  West.  It  advocated  placing  the  administration  in 
the  hands  of  a  ministry  responsible  to  a  parliament  elected 
by  the  nation. 

Constitutional  government  was  seemingly  foreshadowed 
in  the  imperial  oath  of  1869  when  the  advisers  of  the  young 
monarch  put  into  his  mouth  the  promise  that  "argument 
and  debate  shall  be  adopted  and  all  measures  shall  be 
decided  by  impartial  discussion."  The  exact  meaning  of 
this  promise  was  and  is  a  matter  of  some  dispute.  Its  lan- 
guage was  ambiguous  and  it  might  be  also  translated, 
"An  assembly  widely  convoked  shall  be  established,  and 
all  affairs  of  state  decided  by  impartial  discussion."  Its 
import  was  even  more  a  matter  of  dispute.  Some  held  it 
to  be  a  definite  promise  of  parliamentary  government; 
others  maintained  that  it  did  not  have  any  Occidental 
institution  in  mind.  The  latter  position  is  probably  more 
nearly  correct.  The  framers  of  the  oath  seem  to  have  in- 
tended nothing  more  than  an  assembly  of  the  feudatories 
and  the  court  nobility,  for  with  the  exception  of  the  loss 
of  the  shogun,  its  head,  feudalism  was  still  largely  intact 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       131 

at  the  time  the  oath  was  taken.  The  samurai  and  nobles 
would  meet  by  virtue  of  their  hereditary  positions,  not 
as  elected  spokesmen  of  the  nation.  Such  an  assembly 
did  convene  in  1869,^  Its  functions  were  purely  consulta- 
tive. It  was  to  be  a  means  of  ascertaining  the  opinion  of 
the  warrior  and  noble  classes,  the  only  groups  which  had 
in  the  past  been  concerned  with  the  active  government. 
The  gathering  proved  a  fiasco.  Membership  in  it  was  not 
highly  esteemed,  and  it  accomplished  nothing  of  note. 
The  government  was  carried  on  through  other  agencies. 
In  1870  the  gathering  was  prorogued  and  in  1873  dissolved. 
Although  the  institution  which  seems  to  have  been  con- 
templated by  the  charter  oath  had  failed,  the  oath  itself 
was  to  be  taken  up  by  the  hberals  and  to  be  interpreted  as 
a  promise  of  a  truly  national  assembly  with  extensive 
powers.  By  1873  the  statesmen  of  the  nation  knew  more 
of  Western  institutions  than  they  had  in  1869.  An  official 
mission  had  visited  America  and  Europe  and  had  been 
much  impressed  by  what  it  had  seen.  On  its  return  to 
Japan  one  of  its  leaders  ^  presented  to  his  colleagues  in 
the  government  a  memorandum  advocating  a  constitutional 
monarchy,  but  did  not  suggest  any  very  definite  institu- 
tions through  which  this  should  be  carried  on.  This  was 
the  true  beginning  of  the  struggle  for  representative  gov- 
ernment. The  history  of  subsequent  developments  is  an 
interesting  one,  but  only  its  main  features  can  here  be 
presented.  The  movement  drew  its  support  principally 
from  two  groups  of  people.  The  first  was  made  up  of  the 
radical  wing  of  those  who  favored  the  adoption  of  Occi- 
dental ways.  They  advocated  an  enthusiastic  and  whole- 
sale Westernization  of  Japan  and  were  in  favor  of  discard- 
ing all  the  customs  and  institutions  which  from  the  for- 
1  It  was  called  the  Kogisho.  "  Kido. 


132  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

eigners'  standpoint  marked  the  nation  as  peculiar  and 
barbarous.  They  wished  Japan  to  take  its  place  at  once 
with  Western  powers  by  copying  all  the  trappings  of  Occi- 
dental civilization.  The  younger  students,  both  those 
who  were  returning  from  America  and  Europe  and  those 
who  were  the  product  of  the  new  schools  in  Japan,  some 
of  the  editors  of  recently  established  newspapers,  and  some 
of  those  who  were  in  intimate  contact  with  foreign  books 
or  foreigners  in  the  treaty  ports,  formed  the  bulk  of  this 
group.  The  more  extreme  among  them  had  imbibed  or 
were  to  imbibe  many  of  the  most  radical  political  theories 
of  the  West.  They  were  to  read  the  books  that  had  pre- 
ceded the  French  Revolution,  such  as  Rousseau's  Social 
Contract.  No  one  ever  talked  of  abolishing  the  monarchy: 
the  imperial  institution  had  too  firm  a  hold  on  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  nation  for  that.  Many  did,  however,  believe 
in  a  ministry  responsible  for  all  its  acts  to  a  national  as- 
sembly elected  on  the  basis  of  a  liberal  franchise.  The 
second  group  was  made  up  of  some  of  those  of  the  govern- 
ing class  who  had  broken  with  the  men  in  power,  and  who 
desired  to  make  political  capital  out  of  the  agitation.  They 
apparently  hoped  that  by  championing  the  constitutional 
movement  they  would  either  oust  the  ministry  or  force  it 
to  make  terms  with  them. 

Early  in  1874  a  group  of  officials  who  had  differed  from 
the  government  on  its  Korean  policy  and  had  resigned, 
presented  a  memorial  protesting  against  the  arbitrary 
acts  of  the  heads  of  the  bureaucracy  and  advocating  an 
elective  assembly.  Of  these  protestants  Itagaki  should 
be  remembered  for  his  part  in  the  later  struggle  for  a  con- 
stitution. The  government  was  inclined  to  make  conces- 
sions to  these  former  officials,  apparently  in  the  hope  that 
it  could  win  their  support  and  forestall  more  demands 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION        133 

later.  Accordingly  a  compromise  was  arranged  ^  by  which 
the  two  factions  were  reconciled  and  important  constitu- 
tional changes  were  agreed  upon  which  were  a  step,  although 
a  very  short  one,  toward  representative  government,  A 
senate  ^  was  established  as  a  legislative  chamber.  It  was 
to  have  deliberative  powers  but  not  those  of  initiating 
measures,  and  it  was  to  be  made  up  exclusively  of  ap- 
pointed members  of  the  noble  and  official  classes.  There 
was  to  be  a  reorganization  of  the  departments,  including 
the  establishment  of  a  high  court  of  justice,  to  obtain  a 
separation  between  the  judicial,  executive,  and  legislative 
branches  of  the  government.  This  was  obviously  done 
imder  the  influence  of  the  theory  of  the  division  of  func- 
tions that  so  greatly  influenced  the  constitutions  of  the 
West.  In  addition,  an  assembly  of  the  prefectural  gover- 
nors was  to  be  convened  to  bring  the  Tokyo  authorities 
in  touch  with  the  needs  of  the  people.  None  of  these 
changes  provided  for  popular  election  or  for  representation 
of  any  but  the  official  classes,  but  they  were  meant  to 
qualify  the  absolute  power  of  the  group  that  surrounded 
the  emperor.  The  nation  was  probably  not  ready  safely 
to  take  advantage  of  further  concessions. 

The  changes  promised  in  1874  could  not,  however,  be 
expected  permanently  to  satisfy  the  liberals.  Neither  the 
senate  nor  the  assembly  of  governors  proved  very  effective, 
and  of  course,  since  they  were  representative  only  of  of- 
ficialdom, both  were  easily  controlled  by  the  ministry. 
By  1877  the  agitation  for  a  constitution  was  again  in  evi- 
dence. It  was  more  insistent  than  before  and  was  no  longer 
confined  to  liberal  or  dissatisfied  members  of  the  ruling 

*  At  the  so-called  Osaka  conference,  1874. 

*  Genro-in,  not  to  be  confused  with  the  Genro  or  Elder  Statesman, 
a  later  institution. 


134  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

class.  Radical  ideas  were  spreading  under  continued  con- 
tact with  the  democracy  of  the  West,  and  political  bodies 
sprang  up  which  advocated  representative  institutions  and 
sent  out  lecturers  and  agitators  to  instruct  and  arouse  the 
people.  The  movement  grew  in  intensity,  and  in  1878, 
moved  by  the  assassination  of  one  of  the  prominent  minis- 
ters (Okubo),  the  government  partially  gave  way  and  an- 
nounced the  organization  of  local  assemblies.  These  were 
elective  bodies,  chosen  by  a  limited  franchise.  There  was 
to  be  one  in  each  prefecture  and  they  were  to  be  merely 
advisory  to  the  governors.  They  were  to  meet  for  one 
month  each  year  and  were  to  have  a  voice  principally  in 
the  levying  and  spending  of  local  taxes  and  in  the  super- 
vision of  accounts.  They  could  also  petition  the  central 
government.  On  the  whole  these  assemblies  worked  well. 
Later  (1880)  similar  ones  were  organized  in  the  cities, 
towns,  and  villages.  Occasionally  they  came  into  collision 
with  the  representatives  of  the  central  government,  but 
they  served  to  give  the  people  a  voice  in  local  finances  and 
were  training  schools  for  the  national  parliament. 

The  grant  of  these  local  assemblies  did  not,  however, 
silence  the  liberals.  Their  demands  were  only  intensified, 
as  no  national  assembly  was  yet  provided  for,  and  revolu- 
tionary ideas  from  the  Occident  were  spreading  with  each 
month  that  intercourse  with  Westerners  continued.  Me- 
morials asking  for  a  national  assembly  were  presented  to  the 
government  by  various  bodies.  A  convention  of  the  liberal 
clubs  met,  and  by  a  demonstration  emphasized  their  de- 
sires. Many  of  the  newly  founded  newspapers  cham- 
pioned the  movement.  Finally,  in  October,  1881,  the 
government  yielded  and  in  the  name  of  the  emperor  prom- 
ised that  a  national  assembly  would  be  convened  in  1890 
and  that  a  constitution  would  be  granted.    The  next  year 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       135 

Ito  was  sent  abroad  to  study  the  fonn  of  constitutions  in 
use  in  the  West,  and  became  on  his  return  the  head  of  the 
commission  that  was  to  frame  a  similar  document  for  Japan. 
Of  Ito  it  ought  to  be  added  that  he  was  the  most  promi- 
nent statesman  of  Japan  in  the  last  two  decades  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  He  had  begim  life  as  a  samurai  of  Choshu 
and  was  originally,  Hke  his  master,  anti-foreign.  He  early 
became  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  reform  after  Western 
models,  however,  and  together  with  Inouye  and  three  others, 
in  1863,  braving  the  edicts  which  still  made  it  a  capital 
offense  to  go  abroad,  secretly  went  to  Shanghai.  From 
there  he  and  his  companions  sailed  to  London,  Ito  and 
Inouye  working  their  passage  before  the  mast.  In  London 
the  latter  two  spent  a  year,  studying.  When  Choshu  be- 
came embroiled  with  the  powers,  Ito  hurried  back  to  Japan 
in  an  attempt  to  prevent  his  fief  from  persisting  in  its  trucu- 
lent attitude  towards  foreigners.  He  did  not  succeed,  and 
for  a  time  was  in  imminent  peril  of  his  life.  After  the 
restoration,  however,  and  the  frank  recognition  by  the 
country  of  the  new  age,  he  quickly  rose  in  office,  and  was 
for  years  to  be  the  dominant  figure  at  Tokyo. 

FORMATION  OF   PARTIES,   PARTY  AGITATION 

Following  the  promise  of  1881,  three  parties  arose  to 
prepare  the  way  for  government  under  a  constitution,  and 
to  mold  by  their  action  the  terms  of  that  document.  The 
first  of  these,  called  the  Liberal  Party,  ^  had  as  its  leader 
Itagaki,  who  had  earlier  been  a  member  of  the  group  that 
had  helped  guide  the  nation  through  the  Restoration.  He 
was  a  zealous  advocate  of  giving  the  people  a  voice  in  the 
government  and  his  party  represented  the  extreme  wing 

1  Jiyuto. 


136  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

of  the  radicals.  He  has  sometimes  been  called  the  Rousseau 
of  Japan,  and  while  the  parallel  is  not  an  accurate  one,  he 
and  his  party  stood  for  what  they  deemed  the  rights  of 
man.  Occasionally  the  more  rabid  members  of  his  party 
employed  violent  measures  to  further  their  cause,  and  they 
often  used  virulent  language. 

The  next  party  was  the  Liberal  Conservatives.^  Its 
leader  was  Okuma,  another  ex-samurai.  He  had  early 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  English  and  Dutch  and  with  them 
a  conviction  of  the  need  of  reforming  Japan.  He  had  been 
a  member  of  the  government  and  had  remained  in  it  longer 
than  had  Itagaki.  Having  chafed  under  the  strong  control 
exercised  over  the  administration  by  the  ex-samurai  of 
Satsuma  and  Choshu,  he  finally  broke  away  and  organized 
a  party,  apparently  in  the  hope  of  weakening  the  Sat-Cho 
(Satsmna-Choshu)  combination  by  bringing  into  the  gov- 
ernment the  element  of  popular  representation.  The 
Liberal  Conservatives  were  the  more  moderate  wing  of  the 
advocates  of  representative  government.  They  favored  a 
gradual  extension  of  the  franchise,  the  development  of 
local  self-government,  and  a  policy  of  internal  reorganiza- 
tion as  opposed  to  imperialism.  They  stood  also  for  a  sound 
currency.  The  party  would  naturally  attract  to  itself 
many  elements  in  the  nation  which,  while  opposed  to  the 
Sat-Cho  oligarchy,  were  not  willing  to  go  to  the  lengths 
prof>osed  by  Itagaki  and  his  followers. 

A  third  party  was  the  Constitutional  Imperialists.^  It 
was  made  up  of  the  conservatives,  and  while  in  favor  of  a 
constitution,  was  opposed  to  any  action  that  would  weaken 
the  sovereignty  of  the  emperor.  It  favored  a  restricted 
electorate,  an  absolute  imperial  veto  over  all  legislation, 
and  a  bicameral  legislature  as  opposed  to  the  more  demo- 
*  Kaishinto.  *  Rikken  Teiseito. 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       137 

cratic  one-chamber  plan.  It  was,  however,  in  favor  of  an 
independent  judiciary,  of  keeping  military  and  naval 
officers  out  of  politics,  and  of  a  rather  wide  freedom  of 
speech  and  assembly.  The  party  itself  was  transient  and 
numerically  small,  but  men  in  the  government  and  their 
supporters  held  similar  opinions,  and  the  principles  it 
advocated  proved  more  influential  than  did  those  of  its 
opponents.  Many  of  the  ideas  championed  by  it  were  to 
be  found  in  the  finished  constitution. 

Following  the  formation  of  these  parties  there  came 
some  months  of  popular  agitation.  Each  went  to  the  na- 
tion with  its  views.  Public  mass  meetings  were  held,  and 
many  of  the  radical  newspapers  became  violent  in  their 
advocacy  of  their  pet  theories.  So  disturbing  were  the  dis- 
cussions that  the  government  felt  called  upon  to  adopt 
repressive  measures,  and  by  muzzling  the  press  and  public 
meetings  it  produced  for  a  time  a  semblance  of  calm.  The 
Japanese  were  as  yet  too  unaccustomed  to  the  institutions 
of  the  West  to  exercise  the  self-restraint  in  public  speech 
that  is  necessary  to  a  well-conducted  popular  government. 
They  were  obviously  still  unprepared  for  the  party  system 
involved  in  such  a  constitution  as  that  of  England. 

CHANGES  PREPARATORY  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION 

Ito  returned  from  his  tour  of  the  West  in  1883  and  almost 
at  once  changes  were  begun  preparatory  to  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  government  involved  in  the  adoption  of  a  con- 
stitution. Of  all  the  forms  of  limited  monarchies  he  had 
seen,  Ito  was  most  impressed  with  that  of  Germany.  He 
had  been  greatly  influenced  by  Bismarck  and  by  the  re- 
juvenation of  the  Fatherland  that  was  taking  place  imder 
the  empire.    He  felt  that  the  spirit  of  the  German  govern- 


138  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

ment,  with  its  traditions  of  autocratic  monarchy  and  its 
bureaucracy,  was  more  nearly  that  of  the  new  Japan  than 
was  that  of  any  other  important  Occidental  power.  His 
modifications  of  Japanese  institutions  clearly  show  how 
deeply  he  had  been  stirred  by  these  convictions.  He  began 
(1884)  by  rehabilitating  the  nobility.  That  of  past  ages 
had  officially  disappeared  with  the  Restoration.  It  now 
seemed  to  Ito  wise  to  create  a  new  one  as  the  preliminary 
to  an  upper  house  of  a  national  legislature,  and  as  a  means 
of  strengthening  the  government  with  the  support  of  the 
more  powerful,  conservative  classes.  The  orders  of  the 
new  nobility,  five  in  number,  were  modeled  on  those  of 
Europe  and  were  conferred  on  former  court  nobles  and 
feudatories  of  the  old  regime,  and  upon  those  who  had 
been  prominent  in  the  restoration  movement. 

The  next  step  was  the  remodeling  of  the  cabinet  to  a 
form  corresponding  somewhat  to  that  of  Germany.  The 
prime  minister,  like  the  German  chancellor,  was  now  to 
have  the  guidance  of  all  the  other  ministers,  and  was  to  be 
responsible  for  the  entire  conduct  of  the  administration. 
The  bureaucracy  was  modified  by  the  introduction  of 
examinations.  Official  appointments  to  the  civil  service 
were  henceforth  to  be  made  on  the  basis  of  success  in  exam- 
inations which  were  open  to  all  subjects  of  the  emperor. 
This  change  was  eventually  to  make  the  civil  bureaucracy  a 
truly  national  body  and  was  to  remove  it  from  the  monopoly 
of  the  ex-samurai. 

TEDE   FRAMING  AND  PROMULGATION  OF   THE   CONSTITUTION, 

1889 

The  framing  of  the  constitution  was  meanwhile  under 
way.  That  task  was  not  intrusted  to  a  popular  representa- 
tive assembly.    The  document  was  to  be  granted  by  the 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION        139 

emperor  out  of  his  own  kindness,  and  in  constructing  it  the 
nation  was  to  have  no  direct  voice.  The  work  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a  group  of  men,  chief  of  whom  was  Ito,  who 
carried  it  on  in  secret,  where  each  step  in  the  process  would 
not  be  subject  to  the  criticism  of  a  violently  partisan  press. 
Ample  time  was  taken,  and  finally,  in  1889,  the  completed 
constitution  was  sanctioned  by  the  emperor  and  was 
officially  promulgated  by  him  amid  great  pomp  and  cere- 
mony. 

THE  TERMS  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

The  chief  provisions  of  the  docimaent  are  as  follows: 
First,  the  institution  of  the  emperor  is  emphasized.  He  is 
declared  to  be  of  a  line  that  has  been  "unbroken  from  ages 
eternal."  He  is  the  source  of  all  authority  and  combines 
in  himself  all  sovereignty.  He  sanctions  all  laws  and  orders 
them  to  be  promulgated  and  executed.  He  convokes  and 
prorogues  the  diet  and  dissolves  the  lower  house.  While  the 
diet  is  not  sitting,  he  can  issue  ordinances  which  have  the 
force  of  law.  He  is  the  head  of  the  ex^cutiV^  branch  of  the 
government,  appoints  and  dismisses  all  officers,  and  deter- 
mines their  salaries.  He  is  supreme  commander  of  the  army 
and  navy  and  declares  war,  makes  peace,  and  concludes 
treaties.  He  confers  titles  of  nobility  and  has  the  power  of 
pardoning  and  of  granting  amnesty.  He  is,  in  other  words, 
virtually  supreme.  While  all  these  functions  are  in  practice 
exercised  by  his  ministers,  the  latter  are  responsible  to 
him,  not  to  the  diet,  and  he  may  interfere  at  any  time  with 
their  actions.  Still  the  emperor  does  not  openly  interfere 
in  or  guide  the  administration  as  in  Germany.  In  many 
respects  he  reigns  but  does  not  govern.  He  has  never  under 
the  new  regime  openly  exercised  any  direct  power.  His 
official  acts  of  importance  axe  as  a  rule  taken  only  after 


I40  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

consultation  with  his  privy  council  or  his  ministers.  Neither 
is  his  position  exactly  parallel  to  that  of  the  English  sov- 
ereign, for  constitutionally  he  could  act  directly  if  he  wished, 
and  his  crown  is  not  founded  upon  the  will  of  the  legisla- 
ture. As  in  feudal  days  all  government  was  through  the 
shogun,  so  now  it  is  through  the  cabinet  and  the  privy 
council.  The  emperor  is,  however,  consulted  as  he  was  not 
in  the  days  of  the  Tokugawa,  and  has  a  much  larger  share 
in  the  government  than  then. 

Many  rights  are  conceded  to  the  subjects  of  the  emperor. 
All  Japanese  are  to  be  hable  for  taxes  and  military  service, 
but,  subject  to  the  restrictions  placed  by  law,  they  have 
equal  rights  to  appointment  to  office,  they  can  change  their 
abode,  their  houses  are  free  from  search,  and  they  have 
freedom  of  speech,  public  assembly,  writing,  association, 
and  religion.  They  can  be  arrested  only  according  to  law 
and  must  be  tried  by  legally  appointed  judges.  Their 
property  is  inviolate,  and  they  have  the  right  of  petition. 
While  the  recognition  of  these  rights  marked  a  great  ad- 
vance over  feudal  days,  it  must  be  remembered  that  they  are 
not  as  unlimited  as  would  at  fixst  appear.  The  fact  that 
most  of  them  are  "subject  to  the  restrictions  placed  by 
law"  makes  it  possible  for  the  government  to  curtail  them 
if  necessary. 

The  Imperial  Diet  consists  of  two  chambers,  the  House  of 
Peers  and  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  first  as  later 
modified  is  made  up  of  members  of  the  imperial  family  and 
of  the  two  higher  ranks  of  the  nobility,  of  representatives 
elected  by  their  peers  from  the  three  lower  ranks  of  the 
nobility,  of  distinguished  men  nominated  by  the  emperor, 
and  of  some  of  the  highest  taxpayers,  elected  by  their 
fellows.  It  is,  evidently,  a  conservative  body,  and  can  be 
counted  upon  to  check  any  ultra-hberal  tendencies  in  the 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       141 

lower  house.  The  House  of  Representatives  is  made  up 
wholly  of  elected  members.  These  represent  districts  which 
theoretically  are  as  nearly  equal  in  population  as  possible. 
The  franchise  is  limited  by  property  qualifications.  The 
diet  must  meet  yearly,  and  the  duration  of  the  session, 
although  it  may  be  altered  by  the  emperor,  is  fixed  at  three 
months.  Members  have  freedom  of  debate  and  are  not 
subject  to  arrest.  No  law  can  be  passed  without  the  consent 
of  the  diet,  and  it  may  initiate  legislation.  The  government 
may  also  initiate  legislation.  No  new  tax  can  be  imposed 
without  the  consent  of  the  diet,  and  the  annual  budget  must 
be  approved  by  it.  The  diet  does  not,  however,  have  the 
complete  power  of  the  purse,  for  certain  matters,  the  control 
of  salaries  and  the  expenditures  of  the  imperial  house,  are 
outside  its  jurisdiction,  and  if  it  refuses  to  pass  a  budget, 
that  of  the  preceding  year  will  be  kept  in  force  as  the  stand- 
ard. The  emperor  has  an  absolute  veto  over  legislation. 
The  diet  has  the  important  privilege  of  interpellation,  or  of 
putting  questions  to  the  different  members  of  the  cabinet. 
Both  houses  may  address  the  crown,  and  by  this  means  may 
present  grievances  and  virtually  impeach  a  minister.  The 
diet  does  not  have  the  power  that  is  wielded  by  the  English 
Parliament.  It  resembles  rather  the  German  diet.  The 
cabinet  is  not  responsible  to  it,  and  were  it  not  for  public 
opinion  an  obdurate  emperor  might  almost  dispense  with 
it.  Moreover,  the  upper  house  has  in  many  matters  an 
effective  check  over  the  lower  one,  and  since  the  former  is 
conservative,  it  can  prevent  any  radical  measures  from  be- 
ing enacted  by  the  latter. 

A  Privy  Council  is  provided  for,  which,  unlike  that  of 
England,  is  not  an  honored  but  now  powerless  relic  of  the 
past  out  of  which  the  cabinet  has  emerged.  It  is  a  distinct 
body,  appointed  by  the  emperor,  and  exists  for  purposes  of 


142  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

personal  consultation  with  him.  It  is  made  up  of  the 
distinguished  statesmen  of  the  land.  Cabinet  ministers  are 
members  ex-officio. 

There  is  an  institution,  the  Elder  Statesmen,  which  is  not 
provided  for  by  the  written  constitution,  but  which  is  so 
prominent  a  feature  of  the  unwritten  constitution  that  it 
must  be  spoken  of  in  connection  with  the  former.  The 
Elder  Statesmen,  or  Genro,  are  an  unofficial  body  made  up 
of  members  of  the  group  of  samurai  who  led  in  the  re- 
organization of  the  government.  They  have  the  ear  of  the 
emperor  and  by  virtue  of  that  and  of  their  achievements 
occupy  a  commanding  position  in  the  nation.  Their  func- 
tion is  purely  advisory,  but  in  times  of  great  national  crisis 
they  have  often  had  more  weight  than  privy  council, 
cabinet,  or  diet.  Very  influential  during  the  nineties  and 
the  first  years  of  the  twentieth  century,  the  Elder  States- 
men as  an  institution,  unless  recruited  from  yoimger  men, 
must  soon  become  extinct  with  the  death  of  the  original 
members.  At  the  present  (1918)  only  four  of  them  remain 
active,  and  that  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  two  have  been 
officially  added  from  the  older  men  not  heretofore  classed 
with  the  group. 

The  Cabinet  has  charge  of  the  executive  side  of  the 
government  and  is  responsible  to  the  emperor,  not  to  the 
diet.  At  its  head  is  the  premier,  who,  like  his  German 
prototype,  as  has  been  said,  is  its  dominant  figure. 

A  judiciary  is  provided  for,  to  be  filled  by  appointment, 
and  to  hold  office  during  good  behavior.  As  in  some  Euro- 
pean countries,  however,  a  separate  set  of  courts  exists  for 
administrative  cases,  or  those  involving  government  officers, 
and  over  these  the  ordinary  courts  are  not  given  jurisdiction. 

The  constitution  was  the  first  to  be  granted  by  a  monarch 
of  East  Asia.    With  all  its  conservatism  it  marked  the  en- 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       143 

trance  of  the  liberal  democratic  theories  of  the  West  into 
the  autocratic  Far  East.  Then  too,  although  conservative, 
it  is  so  elastic  that  its  real  working  may  change  with  the 
political  education  of  the  people,  and  still  retain  its  form. 
Especially  is  this  true  as  regards  the  responsibility  of  the 
cabinet.  Ito  was  sagacious.  It  was  a  far  cry  from  the 
feudalism  of  i860  to  the  constitutional  monarchy  of  1890. 
The  constitution  so  adopted  had  now  to  be  put  into 
force.  It  has,  on  the  whole,  worked  well.  Its  chief  weak- 
i  ness,  and  a  very  real  one,  has  been  the  conflicts  that  it 
renders  almost  inevitable  between  the  two  houses  of  the 
diet,  and  especially  between  the  lower  house  and  the  execu- 
tive. With  the  exception  of  war  times,  when  factional 
differences  have  been  forgotten  in  the  face  of  the  common 
enemy,  few  years  since  1890  have  passed  without  a  struggle 
between  the  political  parties  and  the  cabinet.  The  former 
have  been  striving  to  make  the  latter  responsible  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  as  in  England,  Italy,  or  France. 
At  times  they  have  seemed  to  gain  a  measure  of  success, 
but  more  frequently  they  have  failed.  Too  often  the 
government  has  obtained  peace  and  support  by  questionable 
concessions  to  individual  members  of  the  house. 

STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  THE  PARTIES  AND  THE  MINISTRY 

The  struggle  began  with  the  preliminaries  to  the  first  diet. 
The  parties  of  the  early  eighties  had  for  a  time  been  quies- 
cent, but  with  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  at  least  two 
were  revived,  the  Liberals  (Jiyuto)  under  the  leadership  of 
Itagaki,  and  the  Liberal  Conservatives  (Kaishinto)  di- 
rected by  Okuma.  Both  Liberals  and  Liberal  Conserva- 
tives demanded  that  the  ministry  be  made  responsible  to 
the  lower  house,  and  formed  a  temporary  union  as  an 


144  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

opposition  party.  The  elections  went  off  quietly.  There 
was  a  general  interest  in  them;  in  most  districts  three  or 
four  candidates  appeared  for  each  seat  and  the  large  ma- 
jority of  the  half  million  or  so  to  which  the  franchise  was 
confined  appeared  at  the  polls.  The  opposition  parties  won 
a  decided  majority  of  the  seats  of  the  lower  house.  This, 
by  the  way,  was  quite  representative  of  the  various  groups 
of  the  nation;  the  ex-samurai,  while  numerous,  were  in  the 
minority;  the  leading  occupations  of  the  country  were 
represented  in  about  their  just  proportion:  the  lower  house 
was  not,  as  is  the  American  congress,  largely  a  body  of 
lawyers.  The  upper  house  was,  as  might  be  expected,  a 
dignified  and  conservative  body. 

The  diet  had  no  sooner  met  than  the  opposition  began  to 
make  trouble  for  the  government.  The  budget,  which  by 
the  constitution  must  be  presented  to  the  diet,  seemed  the 
most  promising  point  of  attack,  and  on  it  the  struggle  raged 
furiously.  Both  Liberals  and  Liberal  Conservatives  saw 
in  the  partial  control  of  the  diet  over  the  purse  their  oppor- 
tunity to  force  the  ministry  to  its  knees.  The  government 
was  compelled  to  compromise  and  granted  two-thirds  of  the 
demands  of  the  opposition.  The  ministry,  however,  while 
compelled  to  recognize  the  power  of  the  parties,  did  not 
concede  the  main  point  at  issue,  that  of  responsibility  to 
the  lower  house.  The  struggle  between  the  legislature  and 
the  cabinet  therefore  did  not  abate,  and  finally  in  disgust 
the  government  exercised  its  constitutional  right  and  in  the 
name  of  the  emperor  dissolved  the  diet. 

In  the  elections  to  the  second  diet  the  government  made  a 
determined  effort  to  obtain  control  of  the  lower  house,  an 
act  that  in  itself  was  a  partial  concession  to  the  contention  of 
the  party  politicians.  It  used  every  possible  legal  and  some 
illegal  means  to  insure  the  return  of  a  majority  of  its  candi- 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION        145 

dates.  Bribery,  intimidation,  and  repressive  laws  were  all 
employed,  and  the  contest  was  marked  by  scenes  of  violence. 
In  spite  of  these  drastic  measures,  when  the  diet  assembled 
the  ministry  found  its  supporters  in  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives still  in  the  minority.  In  addition  the  government 
had  seriously  damaged  its  prestige  by  its  election  methods. 
The  struggle  between  legislature  and  executive  was  in- 
evitably renewed,  the  chief  points  of  attack  still  being 
financial.  Upper  and  lower  houses  were  at  variance,  for  the 
upper  house  rather  consistently  sided  with  the  government. 
So  difficult  did  the  ministry  find  its  task  that  its  reorganiza- 
tion became  necessary,  and  Ito,  the  framer  of  the  constitu- 
tion, felt  called  upon  to  accept  the  premiership.  This 
cabinet  change,  while  caused  by  party  opposition,  was  by 
no  means  made  in  consultation  with  the  politicians  of  the 
lower  house,  and  they  were  no  more  disposed  to  be  con- 
ciliatory toward  the  new  cabinet  than  they  had  been  toward 
the  old.  Ito  had  finally  to  meet  their  demands  for  a  curtail- 
ment of  expenditures  by  resorting  to  a  direct  message  from 
the  emperor  which  announced  a  voluntary  contribution  of 
a  tenth  of  the  expenses  of  the  imperial  household  to  the 
defense  fund  of  the  nation,  called  upon  all  officials  to  make 
a  similar  sacrifice,  and  asked  that  the  diet  cooperate  by 
striving  for  harmony  with  the  government.  Ito  further 
instituted  extensive  retrenchments  in  government  expenses, 
and  even  made  arrangements  with  Itagaki  and  the  Liberals 
to  obtain  their  support  in  the  lower  house.  The  result  of 
these  strenuous  efforts  was  simply  to  shift  the  attack  of  the 
opposition  groups  from  the  budget,  from  which  respect  for 
the  sovereign's  expressed  wish  restrained  them,  to  other 
points  in  the  policy  of  the  government.  They  were  bent  on 
hindering  and  irritating  the  oligarchy  in  every  possible  way 
until  the  principles  for  which  they  contended  should  be 


146  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

granted.     Again  the  government  was  forced  to  confess 
failure,  and  the  second  diet,  like  the  first,  was  dissolved. 

The  third  House  of  Representatives,  elected  in  1894,  was, 
like  its  predecessors,  in  the  control  of  the  enemies  of  the 
government.  Ito's  agreement  with  the  Liberals  won  their 
support,  but  his  former  adherents  were  angered  by  his 
apparent  concession  to  the  principle  of  party  government 
and  went  over  to  the  camp  of  the  opposition.  Ito  found  that 
he  had  simply  exchanged  the  aid  of  one  group  for  that  of 
another.  The  third  House  of  Representatives,  then,  Hke 
its  predecessors,  had  a  nearly  continuous  record  of  disagree- 
ment with  the  ministry.  After  a  bitter  attack  on  the 
foreign  policy  of  the  government,  and  a  decision  to  present 
in  an  address  to  the  emperor  its  lack  of  confidence  in  the 
cabinet,  the  lower  house,  and  with  it  the  diet,  were  again 
dissolved. 

TEMPORARY  PARTY   TRUCE   DURING   THE   WAR   WITH   CHINA 

Before  the  new  elections  war  had  broken  out  with  China 
and  in  that  spirit  of  patriotism  which  in  Japan  seems  always 
stronger  than  factional  interests,  the  diet  united  solidly  in 
a  cordial  support  of  the  government.  Partisanship  was 
abandoned  in  the  enthusiasm  of  the  attack  on  the  common 
enemy,  and  was  not  again  to  be  displayed  until  after  peace 
had  been  declared.  The  first  period  of  struggle  for  a  re- 
sponsible ministry  had  come  to  an  end.  It  was  evident, 
however,  that  the  strife  would  be  resimied  when  the  ex- 
ternal danger  was  past.  The  only  hope  of  lasting  peace 
under  the  existing  constitution  was  the  imconditional 
surrender  either  of  the  liberals  or  of  the  executive.  The 
ministry  must  not  be  thought  to  have  been  moved  entirely 
or  even  primarily  by  selfish  motives.     Its  leaders  seem 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION        147 

sincerely  to  have  believed,  and  probably  with  justice,  that 
the  nation  was  not  yet  ready  for  a  government  by  a  cabinet 
responsible  to  a  representative  parliament.  The  further 
history  of  the  struggle  must,  however,  be  deferred  to  a 
subsequent  chapter. 

For  further  reading  see:  Griffis,  The  Mikadoes  Empire; 
Brinkley,  Japan,  Its  History,  Arts,  and  Literature;  Brinkley, 
A  History  of  the  Japanese  People;  McLaren,  A  Political  History 
of  Japan  during  the  Meiji  Era;  Okuma,  Fifty  Years  of  New  Japan. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Period  of  Internal  Transformation  (1853-1894) 

3.  foreign  affairs,  economic,  educational,  and  re- 
ligious CHANGES  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  THE  WAR 
WITH  CHINA   ( 1 868-1 894) 

THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  WITH  THE 

WEST 

For  the  past  several  pages  we  have  been  discussing  the 
transformation  wrought  in  the  spirit  and  structure  of  the 
Japanese  government  by  the  coming  of  the  Westerner. 
This  was  perhaps  the  predominating  feature  of  the  years 
between  1853  and  1894.  Of  almost  equal  interest,  however, 
was  the  development  of  the  foreign  policy  of  the  nation. 
Through  all  but  their  earhest  years  the  policy  of  the  Toku- 
gawa  toward  other  countries  can  be  summed  up  in  one 
word,  isolation.  The  coming  of  Perry  brought  this  hermit 
existence  to  a  final  and  irrevocable  end.  It  took  some  years 
to  impress  upon  all  the  nation  a  recognition  of  that  fact, 
but  when  once  it  was  acknowledged,  the  necessary  readjust- 
ments to  the  demands  of  the  new  age  were  resolutely  made. 
The  establishment  of  the  legations  of  Western  powers  in 
Tokyo  was  allowed  and  the  young  emperor  at  the  advice  of 
his  ministers  received  the  foreign  diplomats  in  person  and 
exerted  himself  to  maintain  friendly  relations  between  them 
Jtnd  his  administration.  Japanese  legations  were  estabHshed 
in  the  capitals  of  the  various  treaty  powers,  and  the  island 
empire  sought  to  conform  itself  to  the  international  usages 
of  the  Occident. 

148 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       149 


THE    GROWING    SPIRIT   OF   NATIONALISM   AND   IMPERIALISM 

The  spirit  of  nationalism  and  patriotism  which  had  been 
growing,  even  if  feebly,  under  the  Tokugawa  regime,  and 
which  had  been  roused  into  sudden,  vigorous  life  by  contact 
with  the  nations  of  the  West,  had  expressed  itself  inwardly 
in  a  centralization  and  complete  reorganization  of  the 
state.  In  foreign  relations  it  showed  itself  in  the  main  in 
three  ways.  The  first,  a  passing  phase,  was  the  attempt  of 
the  conservatives  to  rid  the  nation  of  the  defiling  touch  of 
the  foreign  barbarians  and  to  renew  the  policy  of  exclusion. 
Except  for  the  mistaken  zeal  of  unorganized  samurai  this 
had  practically  disappeared  before  the  seventies.  The 
second  was  the  rise  of  a  spirit  of  imperialism,  a  desire  to 
expand,  which  showed  vigorous  life  almost  from  the  day 
of  its  birth,  and  which  was  to  have  a  large  share  in  the  wars 
and  diplomacy  of  the  eighteen  nineties  and  the  twentieth 
century.  The  third  was  a  demand  for  equality  with  West- 
ern powers,  arising  from  a  spirit  of  national  pride  which 
could  not  brook  invidous  discrimination  by  any  people.  It 
showed  itself  principally  in  a  demand  for  restored  tariff  and 
judicial  autonomy  through  the  revision  of  the  treaties  and 
the  aboHtion  of  exterritorjality,  and  was  in  the  twentieth 
century  to  lead  to  bitter  resentment  of  the  treatment  of 
Japanese  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  United  States. 

The  spirit  of  imperiahsm  first  showed  itself  after  the 
Restoration  in  a  demand  that  all  territories  inhabited  by 
Japanese,  or  belonging  naturally  to  the  archipelago,  be 
occupied  by  the  emperor's  government.  The  conviction 
was  expressed  that  the  Riu  Kiu  Islands,  the  Bonin  Islands, 
the  Kuriles,  Sakhalin,  and  Yezo  were  all  rightfully  Japa- 
nese, and  even  that  Korea,  because  of  Hideyoshi's  invasion 


I50  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

and  the  periodical  "tribute-bearing"  embassies  from  its 
court  to  Yedo,  should  be  dealt  with  as  a  subject  state. 
Yezo  was  indisputably  Japanese,  and  under  the  Tokugawa 
it  had  been  held  by  one  of  the  northern  daimyo  and  the 
shogun.  Its  population  was  made  up  largely  of  Ainu, 
however,  and  only  a  few  Japanese  were  to  be  foimd  there. 
A  special  bureau  was  now  organized  by  the  imperial  gov- 
ernment to  oversee  it,  and  a  vigorous  policy  of  colonization 
and  development  was  adopted.  So  successfully  was  the 
work  carried  on  that  the  island  speedily  became  a  con- 
venient outlet  for  the  surplus  population  of  the  empire,  a 
kind  of  frontier  province.  With  Sakhalin  and  the  Kuriles 
the  imperialistic  policy  was  not  so  successful.  Russia  also 
laid  claim  to  these  territories  and  the  controversy  was 
settled  in  1875  by  an  agreement  whereby  Japan's  sov- 
ereignty over  the  Kuriles  was  to  be  acknowledged  in  return 
for  the  renunciation  of  all  her  claims  to  Sakhalin.  Sak- 
halin, it  may  be  added,  was  of  strategic  importance  to 
Russia,  for  it  commanded  not  only  much  of  the  littoral  of 
Eastern  Siberia,  but  the  mouth  of  the  Amur  river,  the 
main  artery  of  that  region.  The  Bonin  Islands,  a  desolate 
no-man's-land  in  the  Pacific  whose  only  possible  importance 
was  as  a  naval  and  commercial  station,  were  occupied  with- 
out opposition  in  1878. 

The  Riu  Kiu  Islands  presented  a  somewhat  more  dif- 
ficult situation.  By  blood  and  language  their  inhabitants 
were  related  to  the  Japanese.  They  had  been  subdued  by 
Satsuma  during  feudal  times  and  for  two  centuries  or  so 
had  been  considered  part  of  its  domains.  They  had  sent 
tribute  embassies  to  Peking  and  yet  as  an  independent 
state  had  made  treaties  with  several  Western  powers.  In 
1868  Japan  definitely  claimed  the  islands  as  her  own,  and 
when  in  187 1  certain  of  their  inhabitants  were  killed  by 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION        151 

the  savages  of  Formosa  she  undertook  to  avenge  them. 
Now,  Formosa  was  a  dependency  of  China,  and  Tokyo 
demanded  redress  at  Peking  on  the  gromid  that  the  men 
of  Riu  Kiu  were  Japanese  subjects.  Peking  both  denied 
Japan's  authority  and  disowned  jurisdiction  over  the  sav- 
ages of  Formosa.  Japan  replied  (1874)  by  sending  a  puni- 
tive expedition  that  seized  and  occupied  southern  Formosa, 
When  China  protested,  Japan  demanded  an  indemnity 
for  her  trouble.  The  two  nations  nearly  came  to  blows, 
but  Peking  finally  yielded,  paid  an  indemnity,  and  the 
Japanese  withdrew.  In  the  meantime  Japan  had  persuaded 
the  king  of  the  Riu  Kiu  islands  to  surrender  his  treaties 
with  Western  nations  and  accept  her  rule.  She  extended 
her  provincial  administration  over  the  islands  in  1876,  thus 
making  them  an  integral  part  of  her  empire.  China  still 
protested  and  declined  to  agree  to  a  proposed  division  of 
the  islands  between  herself  and  Japan,  but  the  latter  quietly 
persisted  and  succeeded  in  retaining  possession  of  the  entire 
group. 

RELATIONS   WITH  KOREA 

In  Korea  the  situation  was  still  more  difficult.  Like  the 
Riu  Kiu  islands,  Korea  had  in  years  past  recognized  the 
simultaneous  suzerainty  of  both  Japan  and  China.  Tribute- 
bearing  embassies  were  sent  both  to  Peking  and  Yedo. 
China  was  nearer  and  more  powerful,  and  the  historic 
source  of  culture,  so  Korea  had  more  respect  for  her.  Nor 
had  Korea  forgotten  the  resentment  roused  by  the  cruel- 
ties of  Hideyoshi's  invasion.  When  Japan  admitted  the 
foreigner  and  began  remodeling  her  government,  Korea 
took  the  opportunity  to  break  off  rather  insolently  all 
relations  with  the  traitor  to  Oriental  seclusion.  Such  an 
attitude  roused  anew  the  Japanese  desire  to  exert  an  in- 


152  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

fluence  in  the  peninsula.  Moreover,  some  of  Japan's  states- 
men began  to  fear  Russian  aggression,  for  that  power  had 
recently  (1868)  acquired  the  territory  east  of  the  Ussuri 
River  and  had  established  a  port,  Vladivostok,  almost  on 
the  northern  boundary  of  Korea,  The  Russian  bear  would 
evidently  not  be  content  to  rest  there  in  a  harbor  closed 
by  ice  during  the  winter  months.  Japan  controlled  what 
were  virtually  the  only  two  exits  from  Vladivostok  to  the 
Pacific.  The  one,  the  narrow  Tsugaru  Strait  between 
Yezo  and  the  Main  Island,  was  evidently  Japanese.  The 
other,  the  broad  straits  between  Korea  and  Kiushiu,  had 
planted  in  their  midst  the  two  Japanese-owned  islands  of 
Tsushima  and  Iki.  Russia  once  in  the  eighteen  eighties 
tried  to  seize  Tsushima  but  was  balked  by  Great  Britain. 
She  would  evidently  be  glad  to  get  possession  of  Korea, 
which,  weak,  backward,  and  ruled  by  a  corrupt  and  in- 
efficient government,  could  not,  unless  aided  from  with- 
out, hope  to  offer  successful  opposition  to  the  great  Euro- 
pean power.  The  Russian  might  prove  an  unpleasantly 
aggressive  neighbor  to  Japan  were  he  established  on  the 
peninsula.  One  group  among  the  Japanese  leaders  de- 
manded a  vigorous  assertion  of  the  interests  of  their  country 
in  the  Hermit  Kingdom.  The  majority  of  the  reforming 
statesmen  were  unwilling,  however,  to  commit  the  nation 
to  a  vigorous  continental  program  until  the  work  of  in- 
ternal reorganization  should  be  more  nearly  complete.  It 
was  dissatisfaction  with  the  poHcy  of  the  majority,  it  will 
be  recalled,  that  paved  the  way  for  Saigo's  break  with  the 
government  and  the  subsequent  Satsuma  revolt.  The 
government  did  not  forget  Korea,  however.  When  in 
1875  a  Japanese  gunboat  was  fired  on  by  a  Korean  fort  the 
emperor's  advisers  decided  that  vigorous  action  was  neces- 
sary.    An  armed  expedition  was  sent  the  following  year. 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       153 

It  adopted  the  plan  used  by  Perry  with  the  shogun's 
ofl5cials  and  by  tactful  intimidation  obtained  a  treaty  with 
Seoul.  China,  it  may  be  added,  offered  no  opposition 
when  Korea  negotiated  the  treaty  as  an  independent  power. 
Japan  thus  took  the  lead  in  opening  Korea  to  the  outside 
world  and  began  to  encourage  within  her  the  idea  of  re- 
jorganization  along  Western  lines.  Treaties  with  Occidental 
powers  followed,  commerce  sprang  up,  and  a  reform  party 
came  into  existence.  China  looked  with  no  friendly  eye 
upon  the  activity  of  the  "island  dwarfs,"  as  she  chose  to 
call  the  Japanese.  She  was  still  the  bulwark  of  Far  Eastern 
conservatism,  and  naturally  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
reactionary  party  at  Seoul.  She  maintained  a  "resident" 
there  who,  as  the  representative  of  her  suzerainty,  had  great 
influence.  Japan  as  naturally  championed  the  reform 
party.  Conflicts  arose  between  the  factions,  and  in  1882 
the  conservatives  attacked  and  burned  the  Japanese  lega- 
tion and  forced  its  inmates  to  flee  for  their  lives.  In  return 
the  Japanese  demanded  and  received  an  indemnity  and 
the  privilege  of  guarding  their  legation  with  their  own 
troops.  In  1884  occurred  another  collision  between  the 
conservatives  and  the  radicals.  The  one  called  on  China 
for  assistance,  the  other  on  Japan.  Both  powers  responded 
and  in  1885  they  agreed  to  withdraw  their  troops  on  the 
mutual  written  imderstanding  that:  "In  case  of  any  dis- 
turbance of  grave  nature  occurring  in  Korea  which  might 
necessitate  the  respective  countries  or  either  sending  troops, 
it  is  hereby  understood  that  each  shall  give  to  the  other 
previous  notice  in  writing  of  its  intention  to  do  so  and  that 
after  the  matter  is  settled  they  shall  withdraw  their  troops." 
Affairs  in  the  peninsula  temporarily  quieted  down,  but  the 
friction  between  reformers  and  reactionaries  continued 
and  was  to  lead  in  1894  to  war  between  Japan  and  China. 


154  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 


TARIFF  AJJD  LEGAL  READJUSTMENTS 

The  agitation  for  the  revision  of  the  foreign  treaties  was 
an  outgrowth  of  the  sacrifice  of  Japan's  judicial  and  financial 
autonomy  embodied  in  them.  When  the  treaties  were 
negotiated  the  Japanese  laws  were  still  what  they  had  been 
in  feudal  days,  and  the  powers  did  not  think  it  Just  to  sub- 
ject their  citizens  to  them  or  to  the  local  courts.  Each 
Western  nation  stipulated  that  all  cases  in  which  its  sub- 
jects or  citizens  were  defendants  should  be  tried  by  its 
consuls  and  under  its  own  laws.  The  residence  of  foreigners 
was  restricted  to  certain  specified  "treaty  ports."  This 
"exterritoriality"  was  in  force  in  China  and  Turkey  and 
wherever  Western  nations  were  in  treaty  relations  with  a 
non-Christian  state.  Tariff  duties,  as  in  China,  were  also 
made  a  matter  of  formal  agreement:  otherwise  they  might 
be  subject  to  frequent  and  arbitrary  modifications.  The 
Japanese  felt  that  exterritoriality  and  the  sacrifice  of  tariff 
autonomy  were  a  mark  of  inferiority.  This  the  patriotic 
spirit  of  the  nation  could  not  willingly  tolerate.  Moreover, 
under  exterritoriality  wrongs  committed  by  foreigners  to 
Japanese  frequently  went  without  redress  and  unpunished, 
and  too  many  consular  courts,  especially  of  the  smaller 
nations,  were  poorly  administered.  Under  the  conven- 
tional tariff,  too,  the  rates  had  been  so  manipulated  by  the 
powers  that  the  average  five  per  cent  ad  valorem  really 
jdelded  but  half  that  much.  Japan  was  in  great  need  of 
revenue,  and  felt  keenly  the  curtailment  of  her  rights  to 
raise  it  from  this  perfectly  legitimate  source.  One  of  the 
first  acts  of  the  government  of  the  Restoration  was  to  plan 
for  the  removal  of  these  restrictions,  and  in  187 1  an  em- 
bassy was  sent  to  Europe  and  America  to  ask  for  it.    Such 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION        155 

a  concession  had  never  been  granted  by  Christendom  to  a 
non-Christian  power  and  since  Japanese  laws  and  law 
courts  were  yet  to  be  reorganized,  the  failure  of  the  mis- 
sion was  certain  before  it  started.  The  agitation,  however, 
had  only  begun.  In  1878  the  United  States  agreed  to  a 
treaty  on  the  terms  desired  by  Tokyo,  but  the  document 
was  not  to  go  into  force  unless  the  other  powers  made 
similar  concessions.  This  Europe  was  unwilling  to  do. 
Then  the  Japanese  foreign  office  tried  conferences  of  the 
Tokyo  representatives  of  the  powers.  Two  of  these  gather- 
ings were  held,  one  in  1882  and  another  in  1886,  but  both 
failed.  Japan  seemed  to  Westerners  still  unprepared  to 
be  trusted  with  full  control  over  the  lives  and  property  of 
strangers.  In  the  meantime  the  Japanese  thinking  public 
had  taken  up  the  agitation,  and  from  the  early  eighties 
tariff  autonomy  and  the  abolition  of  exterritoriality  were 
vigorously  demanded  both  from  the  press  and  the  public 
platform.  Halfway  measures  were  denounced.  A  com- 
promise agreed  to  by  the  1886  conference  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  powers  and  favored  by  the  government,  would 
have  extended  the  jurisdiction  of  Japanese  courts  to  for- 
eigners, provided  that  all  cases  in  which  Westerners  were 
involved  should  be  submitted  to  courts  to  which  foreign 
judges  had  been  appointed.  This  concession  the  Japanese 
public  would  not  tolerate. 

Hand  in  hand  with  the  demand  for  treaty  revision  went 
an  earnest  attempt  so  to  conform  national  institutions  to 
Occidental  standards  that  all  reasons  for  discrimination 
would  cease  to  exist.  European  customs  and  dress  were 
copied.  The  new  education  was  promoted.  The  formation 
of  laws  on  Western  models  was  pushed.  A  new  civil  code 
was  compiled  on  the  general  lines  in  use  in  the  Occident.  A 
code  of  commercial  law  was  drawn  up  resembling  closely 


156  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

that  of  Germany,  and  French  models  were  followed  in 
framing  the  criminal  law.  Judges,  appointed  from  those 
specially  trained  for  the  profession,  were  to  serve  during  life 
or  good  behavior.  In  1890  the  codes  were  finally  approved 
by  the  emperor. 

The  reasons  for  exterritoriality  were  fast  ceasing  to  exist 
and  the  powers  could  evidently  not  long,  with  any  show  of 
justice,  continue  to  maintain  it.  In  1888,  Mexico  signed  a 
treaty  granting  to  Japan  judicial  autonomy,  and  the  United 
States  had  long  been  known  to  be  willing  to  take  a  similar 
step  as  soon  as  the  leading  European  powers  would  agree 
to  do  so.  The  lower  house  of  the  diet  kept  urging  the 
ministry  to  push  the  negotiations,  and  the  government, 
nothing  loath,  took  the  question  directly  to  the  European 
capitals.  Finally  in  1894,  Great  Britain,  whose  trade  was 
larger  and  whose  subjects  resident  in  Japan  were  more 
numerous  and  more  opposed  to  a  change  than  those  of  any 
other  Western  power,  signed  a  treaty  drawn  in  the  revised 
form  desired  by  Japan,  and  the  United  States  followed. 
The  other  powers  conformed  in  the  course  of  the  next  three 
years.  Japan  had  so  effectively  demonstrated  her  com- 
plete reorganization  that  further  delay  would  have  been 
palpably  unjust.  In  1899,  exterritoriality  came  to  an  end, 
consular  courts  and  foreign  "settlements"  were  abolished, 
and  Westerners  became  subject  to  Japanese  courts  and 
laws.  It  must  be  said  that  on  the  whole  the  Japanese  have 
proved  highly  worthy  of  the  trust.  Tariff  autonomy  was 
partially  restored  in  1899,  although  it  did  not  completely 
go  into  effect  until  more  than  a  decade  later  (191 1).  For 
the  first  time  in  history  an  Asiatic  country  was  admitted 
to  the  circle  of  Occidental  powers  on  the  basis  of  full  equal- 
ity. The  concession  was  a  notable  achievement  for  Japan- 
ese patriotism  and  ability. 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       157 

The  political  reorganization  and  the  assumption  of  a  new 
international  status  were  the  most  prominent  features  of 
the  years  between  the  coming  of  Perry  and  1894.  They 
were,  as  well,  the  most  important,  for  the  government  has 
taken  the  lead  in  activities  which  in  most  countries  are  left 
to  the  initiative  of  individual  citizens.  The  changes  in  the 
structure,  policies,  and  position  of  the  state,  were,  however, 
only  part  of  the  transformations  in  progress  in  all  phases  of 
the  nation's  life.  Impact  with  the  West  was  producing  a 
revolution  in  commerce,  finance,  transportation,  industry, 
dress,  thought,  education,  and  religion,  in  some  of  its  phases 
more  complete  than  that  wrought  by  the  coming  of  Bud- 
dhism and  Chinese  culture  over  a  thousand  years  before.  As 
in  that  earlier  transition  period,  the  government  led,  but 
also  as  then,  the  people  followed,  in  time  with  enthusiasm. 

ECONOMIC  REORGANIZATION 

Commerce,  naturally,  sprang  up  almost  as  soon  as  the 
Perry  treaty  had  been  signed.  Naturally,  too,  it  was  many 
years  before  it  attained  large  proportions.  Not  until  after 
1887  did  it  exceed  fifty  million  dollars.  The  nation  had  so 
long  been  closed  to  the  outer  world  that  it  took  time  to 
develop  a  demand  for  foreign  goods  and  the  ability  to  pay 
for  those  purchased.  Until  at  least  188 1,  the  balance  of 
trade  was  against  Japan,  and  she  was  drained  of  her  specie. 
After  1887  commerce  grew  more  rapidly,  thanks  partly  to  a 
more  active  supervision  by  the  government  and  partly  to 
the  internal  reorganization  of  the  industry  of  the  country. 
Its  period  of  greatest  increase  was  to  be  after  the  war  with 
China.  During  its  earlier  years  this  revived  commerce  was 
largely  under  the  control  of  the  foreign  middleman.  It  was 
he  who  came  to  Japan,  purchased  from  the  local  merchants, 


158  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

and  exported  to  other  lands.  In  too  many  instances  he 
was  not  an  ideal  representative  of  the  West.  Adventurers 
who  had  followed  the  flags  of  foreign  powers  strove  to 
exploit  the  new  Japan  to  their  own  advantage.  Their  code 
of  business  ethics  was  often  not  of  the  best;  they  regarded 
the  Japanese  as  inferior  "Asiatics,"  and  dishonesty  and 
overweening  selfishness  marked  far  too  many  of  their 
transactions.  The  Japanese  had  been  unaccustomed  to 
foreign  commerce  and  time  was  required  to  produce  an 
adequate  machinery  to  handle  it.  The  government  tried  to 
help,  but  in  the  early  days  many  of  the  merchants  who 
dealt  with  the  foreigner  aped  his  ethics  along  with  his  other 
business  methods,  and  a  report  of  Japanese  commercial 
dishonesty  became  current.  While  conditions  later  im- 
proved, the  story  still  spread,  for  unfortunately  there  was 
some  basis  for  it.  It  lost  nothing  in  the  telling  and  gave 
the  average  Westerner  an  impression,  greatly  exaggerated, 
that  Japanese  business  men  were  unreHable. 

With  the  growth  of  commerce,  banks  naturally  sprang  up. 
At  first  the  government  experimented  with  various  devices, 
and  in  1873  established  a  national  banking  system  patterned 
largely  after  that  in  use  in  the  United  States.  The  country 
was  being  drained  of  its  specie,  however,  and  the  banks 
and  the  national  treasury  were  on  a  precarious  paper  basis. 
In  1 88 1  the  government  was  led  to  organize  in  addition  a 
great  central  institution,  now  the  Bank  of  Japan,  and,  to 
assist  in  trade  and  foreign  exchange,  a  secondary  institution, 
now  the  Yokohama  Specie  Bank.  Through  the  latter  it 
took  over  for  a  time  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  country 
and  by  an  ingenious  device  built  up  a  metal  reserve  and 
made  possible  the  resumption  of  specie  payments.  In  the 
following  years  the  older  national  banks  were  converted 
into  ordinary  joint-stock  concerns  and  their  note  issues 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION        159 

were  redeemed  and  retired.  Postal  savings  banks  were 
introduced.  Before  1900  the  system  finally  took  the  form 
whose  main  features  it  has  ever  since  preserved,  a  great 
national  Bank  of  Japan  which  alone  issues  notes,  and  center- 
ing in  it  a  system  of  private,  joint-stock  concerns.  There 
were  to  be  added  in  the  years  after  1894  agricultural  and 
industrial  banks  for  the  aid  of  farmers  and  manufacturers. 
As  in  most  branches  of  the  nation's  Ufe,  laws  and  state  super- 
vision carefully  regulate  all  private  financial  institutions. 

With  the  growth  of  commerce  came,  too,  an  improvement 
in  means  of  transportation.  Steamships  plied  the  coastal 
waters  of  the  islands.  At  first  most  of  them  were  built 
abroad  and  were  the  property  of  foreigners,  but  before  long 
they  began  to  be  constructed  and  owned  at  home.  Here 
again  the  government  gave  its  encouragement,  and  heavily 
subsidized  companies  laid  the  basis  for  the  phenomenal 
growth  of  the  twentieth  century  in  domestic  and  foreign 
shipping.  The  state  was  a  pioneer  in  railway  building.  In 
spite  of  earnest  opposition  by  the  conservatives  a  line  was 
begun  between  Tokyo  and  its  port,  Yokohama,  and  was  of- 
ficially opened  by  the  emperor  in  1872.  The  state  continued 
to  promote  railways  and  most  of  the  earlier  ones  were  con- 
structed either  by  it  or  by  government-aided  companies. 
Later  the  privately  owned  lines  predominated,  but,  as  we  shall 
see,  they  have  been  nationalized  within  the  last  few  years. 
Telegraph  lines  were  built  by  the  state  and  in  1886  were 
united  with  the  postal  service  under  a  joint  bureau.  The 
telephone  was  introduced  in  1877,  also  under  ofl&cial  auspices. 

In  industry  the  state  again  had  a  prominent  part,  and 
owned  directly  plants  for  as  divergent  purposes  as  paper- 
making  and  cotton-spinning.  By  1890  there  were  over  two 
hundred  steam  factories  in  the  country  and  the  ancient 
handicrafts  were  beginning  to  be  supplanted  by  the  meth- 


i6o  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

ods  of  the  industrial  revolution.  The  great  industrial 
development  of  the  nation,  however,  was  not  to  take  place 
until  after  the  war  with  China. 

The  government  led,  too,  in  bettering  agriculture.  After 
the  Restoration  the  peasant  was  made  the  owner  of  the  soil 
that  he  had  cultivated  for  the  feudal  lords  under  the  old 
regime,  and  payments  of  taxes  in  money  was  substituted  for 
forced  labor  and  for  payment  in  the  products  of  the  soO. 
Western  agricultural  experts  were  brought  in  to  suggest 
improvements  in  the  time-honored  methods  of  the  farmer, 
and  new  breeds  of  cattle  and  horses  were  introduced. 

In  the  reorganization  of  banking,  commerce,  trans- 
portation, industry,  and  agriculture,  then,  the  state,  di- 
rected by  the  reformers,  had  a  major  part.  For  this  there 
were  two  reasons.  First,  the  state  was  the  only  institution 
which  had  the  organization,  the  mobile  capital,  and  the 
credit  to  undertake  operations  on  the  large  scale  necessary 
for  successful  competition  with  the  industrialized  West.  At 
the  coming  of  Perry  there  were  few  if  any  large  commercial 
fortunes  in  the  country,  capital  was  in  land,  and  industry 
and  trade  were  rudimentary  and  without  an  organization 
fitted  to  cope  with  that  of  the  Occident.  In  the  second 
place,  an  emphasis  upon  the  state  had  been  encouraged  by 
the  Tokugawa  shoguns,  for  they  sought  to  exercise  a 
paternalistic  supervision  over  all  the  life  of  the  nation.  It 
was  but  natural  that  the  ministers  of  the  Restoration  should 
foUow  the  precedent  of  past  ages. 

EDUCATIONAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  TRANSFORMATION 

The  government  led  the  way  in  remaking  the  educational 
system  of  the  land.  Before  the  downfall  of  the  shogunate, 
Japanese  students  had  begun  to  find  their  way  to  the  West, 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION       i6i 

partly  on  their  own  initiative,  and  partly  as  state  pen- 
sioners. With  the  Restoration  scores  of  students  went  to 
Europe  and  America  to  drink  of  the  new  learning  at  its 
sources.  They  returned  bursting  with  ideas  and  became 
ardent  supporters  and  leaders  of  the  reform  movement. 
The  embassy  that  in  187 1  went  abroad  to  ask  for  a  revision 
of  the  treaties  came  back  with  the  determination  to  in- 
augurate, among  other  things,  a  modem  school  system, 
and  in  1872  a  law  was  passed  which  was  the  basis  of  uni- 
versal compulsory  primary  education.  A  complete  pro- 
gram of  public  instruction  was  gradually  carried  out,  be- 
ginning with  the  elementary  school  and  leading  through 
the  "middle"  and  "high"  schools,  to  a  cuhnination  in 
the  national  universities.  Enthusiastic  private  effort  sup- 
plemented that  of  the  state,  and  Christian  missionary  in- 
stitutions added  their  contribution.  Foreign  teachers 
were  engaged  by  the  score,  among  them  some  who  later 
not  only  interpreted  the  West  to  Japan,  but  Japan  to  the 
Occident.  Translations  of  Western  books  were  made. 
England  was  the  great  commercial  power  of  the  Far  East; 
Japan  had  been  opened  by  America  and  many  of  her  youth 
were  there  in  school.  It  was  but  natural  then,  that  Enghsh 
should  be  studied  extensively  and  should  be  the  language 
through  which  the  Japanese  chose  to  acquire  Western 
learning.  Fresh  combinations  of  the  convenient  Chinese 
characters  were  formed  to  express  the  new  ideas  that  were 
constantly  pouring  in.  Newspapers  sprang  into  existence, 
some  of  them  encouraged  by  the  state,  but  many  of  them 
edited  by  men  who  had  been  too  recently  introduced  to 
Western  thought  and  institutions  to  have  their  radicalism 
balanced  with  the  sound  judgment  bom  of  experience. 
So  numerous  and  influential  did  such  sheets  become  that 
by  the  eighties  the  government  found  it  necessary  to  curb 


i62  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

them'  with  press  laws.  A  simpler  form  of  literary  style 
appeared  and  a  beginning  was  made  toward  conforming 
the  language  of  the  printed  page  more  nearly  to  the  ver- 
nacular: education  and  the  new  ideas  were  being  brought 
to  the  man  on  the  street. 

Even  in  reHgion,  that  most  conservative  side  of  a 
people's  hfe,  innovations  were  being  made.  By  their  ex- 
periences of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  the 
Japanese  had  been  taught  to  view  Christianity  with  min- 
gled fear,  contempt,  and  hate.  The  stringent  prohibitions 
against  it  remained  on  the  public  edict-boards  until  1872 
and  complete  religious  toleration  was  not  granted  until 
after  the  promulgation  of  the  constitution.  As  late  as 
the  sixties  a  few  remnants  of  the  church  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  that  had  preserved  their  faith  through 
more  than  two  centuries  of  the  severest  prohibitions  were 
discovered  and  persecuted.  Under  the  shelter  of  the  treaty 
ports,  however,  missionary  activity  was  begun  by  foreign 
representatives  of  Protestant,  Greek,  and  Roman  Catholic 
communions,  and  the  foundations  of  the  church  were  laid 
anew.  A  nmnber  of  notably  able  men  were  among  the 
missionary  pioneers,  and  had  a  share  in  remolding  not  only 
the  religious  thought  but  other  phases  of  national  life.  In 
the  eighties,  when  all  things  foreign  shared  in  the  popu- 
larity that  attended  the  national  enthusiasm  for  transfor- 
mation, the  Christian  church  grew  rapidly.  The  centuries 
of  prejudice  could  not  be  entirely  forgotten,  however.  A 
reaction  took  place  during  the  nineties  and  Christianity 
for  a  while  gained  ground  but  slowly. 

CHAEACTERISTICS  OF  THE  TRANSITION  PERIOD 

To  the  traveller  or  foreign  resident  in  Japan  the  years 
of  marked  transition  were  at  times  amusing,  at  times  be- 


PERIOD  OF  INTERNAL  TRANSFORMATION        163 

wildering,  and  always  interesting.  With  the  momentous 
alterations  in  political  institutions,  in  commerce,  trans- 
portation, industry,  education,  thought,  and  religion,  there 
were  other  changes,  some  of  them  much  more  superficial, 
but  all  of  them  significant.  A  mixture  of  costumes  was  to 
be  found,  often  ludicrous.  To  Japanese  houses  were  added 
foreign  rooms  fitted  out  with  European  furniture.  Business 
blocks  and  public  buildings  were  erected  either  in  an 
avowedly  foreign  architectural  style,  or  in  a  curious  mix- 
ture that  was  neither  Occidental  nor  Oriental  and  that 
tried  to  be  both.  The  nation  was  attempting  to  find  it- 
self, to  adjust  itself  to  the  new  world  into  which  it  had 
been  forced. 

By  1894  the  crisis  of  the  transition  period  had  passed. 
The  government  had  been  completely  reorganized  and  a 
constitution  had  been  given  several  years  of  trial.  An 
army  and  navy  had  been  built  up  after  approved  Western 
models.  A  modern  school  system  was  in  successful  opera- 
tion. Tariff  and  judicial  autonomy  were  on  the  point  of 
being  granted.  Industry  and  commerce  were  giving 
promise  of  vigorous  life.  The  reorganization  was  not  com- 
plete and  its  fruits  were  only  beginning  to  be  seen,  but  in 
the  main  the  shock  caused  by  internal  adaptation  to  the 
modern  world  was  over.  From  1894  on,  the  reorganized 
Japan  was  to  expand  and  take  her  place  as  an  equal  and 
an  increasingly  important  member  in  the  family  of  nations. 

For  further  reading  see:  Griffis,  The  Mikado's  Empire; 
Brinkley,  Japan,  Its  History,  Arts,  and  Literature;  Brinkley,  A 
History  of  the  Japanese  People;  McLaren,  A  Political  History  oj 
Japan  during  the  Meiji  Era;  Okuma,  Fifty  Years  of  New  Japan; 
Gary,  A  History  of  Christianity  in  Japan. 


CHAPTER  X 

1894  TO  191 7:  Japan  Takes  her  Place  Among  the 
Powers  of  the  World 

I.  the  war  with  china,  the  boxer  uprising,  and  the 

WAR  WITH  RUSSIA   (1894-1905) 
japan's  INTEREST  IN  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AFTER   1 894 

By  1894,  as  we  have  seen,  the  wtork  of  the  internal  re- 
organization of  Japan  had  been  brought  to  a  point  where  it 
no  longer  needed  the  entire  attention  of  the  nation,  and 
where  it  was  not  only  safe  but  necessary  to  take  a  more 
active  part  in  international  afifairs.  The  new  Japan  was 
certain  to  enter  a  period  of  expansion  in  population,  in- 
dustry, and  commerce.  This  expansion,  together  with 
her  intense  patriotism  and  the  existing  conditions  in  the 
Orient,  was  certain  to  bring  on  serious  clashes  with  other 
countries.  The  first  trouble  was  in  Korea,  and  out  of  it 
was  to  come  a  long  train  of  events  which  has  not  yet 
ended,  and  which  has  been  momentous  for  the  entire 
world. 

It  was  but  natural  that  there  should  be  friction  in  Korea. 
Here,  it  will  be  recalled,  China  Und  Japan  had  temporarily 
adjusted  their  differences  by  the  agreement  of  1885,  but 
both  had  continued  their  intrigues.  In  the  background 
was  the  Russian,  who,  as  Japan's  statesmen  well  knew, 
was  more  to  be  feared  then  China.  Unless  heroic  measures 
were  taken,  tjie  feeble  and  reactionary  Korea  would  fall 

164 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  165 

an  easy  prey  to  the  ever-expanding  empire  of  the  north. 
Were  the  Land  of  the  Morning  Cahn  ^  to  become  Russian, 
Japan  believed  that  she  would  have  a  relentlessly  aggres- 
sive power  at  her  very  doors,  that  her  commerce  with  the 
neighboring  continent  would  be  stifled  by  unfavorable 
restrictions,  and  that  the  natural  outlet  of  her  growing 
population  would  be  threatened.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  Czar's  frontiers  in  Asia  had  for  centuries  been 
steadily  advancing.  Long  before  the  time  of  Peter  the 
Great,  cossacks  and  hardy  pioneers  had  crossed  the  Urals. 
They  had  made  their  way  to  the  Pacific  before  the  eight- 
eenth century,  claiming  the  land  for  their  imperial  master 
as  they  went.  Russia  had  clashed  with  the  Chinese,  and 
^had  taken  away  from  them  first  the  northern  shores  of  the 
Amur,  and  then  the  territory  east  of  the  Ussuri.  She  was 
expanding  in  the  Trans-Caspian  region  and  was  threaten- 
ing India  from  the  northwest  and  China  from  the  west. 
We  have  already  seen  that  she  desired  a  foothold  in  southern 
Korea  to  make  sure  of  a  safe  passage  from  Vladivostok  to 
the  open  Pacific.  She  would  undoubtedly  welcome  the 
acquisition  of  ice-free  ports  in  Korea  or  North  China  as 
outlets  to  Siberian  railways  and  trade  routes,  and  as  open 
doors  to  the  commercial  and  naval  control  of  the  Far  East. 
She  was  already  intriguing  in  Korea  and  was  so  strong  in 
Peking  that  she  might  succeed  in  using  China  as  a  cat's-paw. 
No  wonder  that  Japan,  as  yet  not  certain  of  herself,  should 
fear  the  Russian  menace,  and  should  seek  to  strengthen 
the  hands  of  the  reform  party  in  Seoul  in  its  attempts  to 
reorganize  the  inefl5cient  and  corrupt  government  and 
make  it  capable  of  holding  its  own  against  foreign  ag- 
gressors. 

1  More  accurately,  "Morning  Freshness,"  but  the  term  given  above 
is  the  usual  translation  of  the  Chinese  characters. 


1 66  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

WAR  WITH  CHINA   OVER  KOREA,   1894-1895 

Between  the  reactionaries,  supported  by  China,  and  the 
reformers,  encouraged  by  Japan,  there  were  frequent  clashes, 
and  the  Korean  government  became,  if  possible,  more 
hopelessly  impotent  than  ever.  The  agreement  of  1885 
could  not  be  a  permanent  settlement  of  the  difficulty,  for 
the  joint  interests  it  recognized  could  only  be  a  source  of 
friction.  China  treated  Korea  as  a  tributary,  scorning  the 
Japanese  contention  that  she  was  independent.  Friction 
increased  in  Seoul, ^  and  finally,  when  a  rebellion  broke  out 
in  the  unhappy  land,  China  sent  troops  to  suppress  it  and 
announced  her  action  to  Japan.  She  did  not,  be  it  added, 
strictly  obey  the  letter  of  the  convention  of  1885,  for  the 
notice  was  sent  after  and  not  before  the  troops  were  dis- 
patched. When  the  Chinese  action  became  known,  Japan 
promptly  prepared  to  send  a  force  to  Korea,  as  was  her 
right  under  the  convention  of  1885,  and  notified  China  to 
that  effect.  Although  the  rebellion  that  had  been  the  occa- 
sion for  sending  the  troops  quickly  died  down,  Japan  and 
China  both  kept  their  forces  in  Korea.  Japan  proposed 
that  Peking  unite  with  her  in  permanently  reorganizing  the 
peninsula's  government  and  in  putting  down  disorder. 
China  declined,  refusing  to  admit  that  Korea  was  inde- 
pendent, and  claimed  the  right  to  fix  limits  both  to  the 
number  of  Japanese  troops  that  could  be  sent,  and  to  their 
use.  China  evidently  suspected  the  Japanese  of  a  desire 
to  control  the  peninsula  and  intended  to  assert  unmis- 
takably her  own  exclusive  suzerainty  over  the  land.  Japan 
was  at  that  time  in  the  midst  of  a  bitter  struggle  between 
the  lower  house  of  the  diet  and  the  ministry,  and  China 

*  The  Chinese  resident  in  the  years  before  the  war  was  Yuan  Shih 
K'ai,  later  to  be  president  of  China. 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  167 

evidently  thought  her  too  torn  by  internal  strife  to  become  a 
formidable  antagonist.  She  had,  moreover,  a  profound 
contempt  for  these  "island  dwarfs"  who  had  once  copied 
her  civilization  and  had  now  partly  abandoned  it  for  that 
of  the  West.  China  began  sending  more  troops  to  Korea, 
although  she  had  been  warned  by  Tokyo  that  such  action 
would  mean  war.  While  one  group  of  reenforcements  was 
on  its  way,  an  armed  clash  occurred  with  the  naval  forces 
of  the  Japanese.  War  followed  (July,  1894).  The  details  of 
the  conflict  need  not  here  be  narrated.  To  China's  surprise 
the  Japanese  ceased  their  internal  dissensions,  and  with  the 
splendid  loyalty  for  which  they  are  noted,  united  solidly  and 
enthusiastically  in  support  of  the  emperor's  forces.  The 
ministry  was  possibly  not  at  all  unwilling  to  turn  the  current 
of  popular  thought  from  the  struggle  for  a  responsible 
cabinet  to  imperialism.  Indeed,  some  have  claimed  to  see 
in  the  war  a  clever  ruse  of  the  government  to  withdraw  the 
attention  of  the  nation  from  the  constitutional  struggle  by  a 
policy  of  foreign  expansion.  The  Chinese  were  beaten  on 
land  and  sea.  Their  navy,  made  up  of  modern  ships,  was 
decisively  defeated  and  its  remnants  were  sunk  or  captured. 
Port  Arthur  and  Talien,  naval  stations  on  the  Liaotung 
Peninsula,  and  commanding  South  Manchuria,  were  cap- 
tured. Both  places  had  been  fortified  under  the  direction 
of  European  engineers,  and  Port  Arthur,  with  its  splendid 
natural  harbor,  was  considered  especially  strong.  Mukden, 
the  capital  of  Manchuria,  was  threatened;  Wei-hai-wei,  the 
great  harbor-fortress  of  Shantung,  was  taken.  Japan  thus 
dominated  the  naval  approaches  to  North  China  and 
Peking.  A  successful  expedition  was  sent  to  Formosa  and 
the  neighboring  Pescadores  Islands.  China  was  compelled 
to  sue  for  peace.  By  the  treaty  that  ended  the  war,  the 
complete  independence  of  Korea  was  formally  acknowl- 


i68  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

edged  by  both  powers;  ^  the  Liaotimg  Peninsula  in  Southern 
Manchuria  was  ceded  to  Japan;  Formosa  and  the  Pesca- 
dores were  given  her;  a  large  indemnity  (200,000,000  taels, 
about  $150,000,000)  was  to  be  paid  her;  and  China  agreed  to 
open  up  the  Yangtze  River  and  certain  additional  treaty 
ports  to  the  trade  of  the  world.  The  dwarf  had  worsted  the 
giant,  and  had  demonstrated  that  it  was  a  factor  to  be 
reckoned  with  in  the  Far  East. 

Europe  had  watched  the  war  with  interest  and  surprise, 
and  some  of  the  powers  viewed  the  outcome  with  alarm. 
Russia  saw  her  plans  for  southern  expansion  blocked  and  her 
influence  in  North  China  threatened.  The  German  emperor 
saw  in  Japan's  victory  the  beginning  of  the  military  re- 
habilitation of  Eastern  Asia  and  feared,  or  pretended  to 
fear,  that  a  yellow  wave  of  conquest  would  eventually 
shake  to  its  foundations  European  world-supremacy.  Even 
before  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  negotiated  it  seems  that 
Russia  had  given  assurance  to  Peking  that  Japan  would 
not  be  allowed  to  retain  the  Liaotung  Peninsula.  Soon 
after  the  treaty  was  signed,  Russia,  instigated  by  Germany 
and  seconded  by  her  ally,  France,  lodged  protests  in  Tokyo. 
These  were  courteous,  but  firm,  for  they  said  that  the  terms 
of  the  treaty  threatened  the  peace  of  the  Far  East.  At  the 
same  time  Germany  presented  a  note  with  a  similar  purport, 
but  curt  and  offensive  in  its  language  and  in  the  method 
chosen  for  transmission.  The  only  course  open  to  Japan 
was  compliance.  She  had  no  ally  and  could  not  hope  to 
resist  successfully  the  armed  forces  of  the  three  powers. 
With  as  good  face  as  was  possible  under  the  circumstances 
she  "accepted  the  advice,"  and  gave  back  to  China  the 

*  The  treaty  of  Shimonoseki  (April,  1895).  The  Chinese  negotiator 
was  the  famous  Li  Hung  Ch'ang,  the  greatest  Chinese  statesman  of 
the  time. 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  169 

Liaotung  Peninsula  in  return  for  an  additional  indem- 
nity. 

The  Japanese  public  was  bitterly  disappointed  with  the 
outcome  of  the  war.  To  many  the  original  treaty  had 
seemed  too  mild.  Then  came  the  retrocession  of  the 
Liaotung  Peninsula,  a  blow  to  the  national  pride  as  severe 
as  it  was  unexpected.  A  conflict  between  Japan  and  Russia 
became  almost  inevitable.  The  ministry  at  once  began  a 
policy  of  naval  and  military  expansion.  Taxes  were  in- 
creased and  sums  far  larger  than  the  indemnity  received 
from  China  were  spent,  in  preparation  for  the  coming  strug- 
gle. Japan's  leaders  saw  that  if  she  was  to  win  from  Euro- 
pean powers  the  recognition  of  her  right  to  a  voice  in  Far 
Eastern  affairs,  she  must  have  an  effective  armament. 

With  the  growth  of  the  army  and  navy,  the  position  of  the 
Satsuma  and  Choshu  groups  was  strengthened.  The  ex- 
samurai  of  these  former  fiefs  of  the  South  had  succeeded  in 
controlling  the  fighting  arms  of  the  nation,  and  now  with 
the  great  program  of  preparedness,  exerted  a  much  stronger 
influence  than  formerly  over  all  the  poUcies  of  the  govern- 
ment. They  stood,  very  naturally,  for  territorial  expansion 
and  for  a  vigorous  policy  on  the  continent.  They  did  not 
want  for  opposition,  as  we  shall  see  a  little  later,  but  the 
force  of  events  aided  them  in  committing  Japan  to  a  policy  of 
imperialism,  a  policy  that  has  since  led  her  into  three  wars 
and  has  made  of  her  an  important  factor  in  world-politics. 

The  war  with  China  spectacularly  impressed  on  the 
world  the  importance  and  the  thoroughness  of  the  trans- 
formation that  had  been  wrought  in  Japan  in  the  preceding 
forty  years.  With  one  or  two  exceptions,  and  then  only 
when  great  provocation  had  been  given,  the  Japanese  had 
throughout  the  struggle  scrupulously  observed  the  regula- 
tions of  the  international  law  of  the  Occident.    They  had 


I70  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

demonstrated  their  ability  to  use  the  weapons  and  or- 
ganization of  the  West. 

Japan  was  not,  however,  to  attain  easily  to  a  full  recogni- 
tion of  her  claim  to  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  China,  to  a 
predominant  interest  in  Korea,  and  to  an  open  door  into 
Manchuria.  As  a  reward  for  her  interference  in  1 895 ,  Russia 
was  given  by  Peking  the  privilege  of  building  the  trans- 
Siberian  railway  that  was  to  bind  together  her  Siberian  and 
European  possessions,  directly  across  Northern  Manchuria 
to  Vladivostok.  It  need  not,  as  was  originally  planned, 
follow  the  more  tortuous  all-Russian  route  along  the  Amur 
and  the  Ussuri.  This  would,  of  course,  give  the  Czar  a 
decided  hold  on  Northern  Manchuria,  which  was  admittedly 
Chinese  territory.  Russia  guaranteed  a  loan  raised  in  Paris 
by  China  to  pay  off  the  indemnity  due  Japan,  an  act  which 
might  be  the  precedent  for  a  financial  protectorate  over  the 
great  Middle  Kingdom  and  which  at  least  seemed  to  impose 
on  Peking  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  St.  Petersburg.  Russian 
intrigues  continued  in  Korea  and  served  greatly  to  embar- 
rass the  Japanese.  The  latter,  in  fact,  played  directly  into 
the  hands  of  Russia  by  a  bungling  management  of  their 
interests  in  Seoul.  The  Japanese  agent  there  ^  was  im- 
plicated in  an  attack  on  the  royal  palace  that  resulted  in 
the  murder  of  the  queen  and  the  escape  of  the  king  to  the 
Russian  legation,  where  he  lived  for  two  years.  Many 
Japanese  merchants  and  settlers  in  the  peninsula  needlessly 
antagonized  the  Koreans  by  an  overbearing  attitude,  dis- 
honest business  dealings,  and  even  violence.  Tokyo  had 
good  reason  to  fear  that  the  agents  of  St.  Petersburg  would 
obtain  more  than  a  passing  hold  on  Korea,  and  from  that 
vantage  point  embarrass  Japan's  commerce  with  the 
continent  and  threaten  her  coasts. 

'  Miura. 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  171 

Then  in  1897  began  a  scramble  of  European  powers  for 
leased  territories  and  spheres  of  influence  in  China.  In  the 
last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  Western  nations 
were  entering  on  a  new  period  of  colonial  expansion.  Africa 
had  recently  been  divided,  unclaimed  islands  of  the  sea 
were  being  occupied,  and  the  territorial  integrity  of  all 
weak  nations  was  threatened.  China's  impotence  had  been 
made  unmistakably  apparent  in  her  war  with  Japan,  and 
European  powers  were  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  it. 
In  1897,  Germany  availed  herself  of  the  murder  of  some  of 
her  subjects — missionaries — by  a  Chinese  mob,  and  de- 
manded a  ninety-nine  year  lease  on  the  strategic  harbor  of 
Kiao  Chau  in  the  province  of  Shantung,  where  the  outrage 
had  taken  place.  Here  she  began  building  a  model  city, 
Tsingtao,  and  connected  it  with  the  interior  by  railway 
lines  for  which  she  had  been  granted  concessions.  She  was 
given  the  privilege,  too,  of  working  the  valuable  coal  mines 
of  the  province.  A  httle  later  Russia,  as  compensation, 
demanded  and  obtained  a  lease  on  Port  Arthur  and  Dalny 
on  that  Liaotung  Peninsula  of  which  she  had  deprived 
Japan  scarcely  three  years  before.  She  connected  them 
with  the  Siberian  railway  by  a  branch  line  which  China 
ostensibly  had  the  right  of  purchasing  at  the  expiration  of  a 
certain  number  of  years.  A  Russo-Chinese  bank  was 
established,  professedly  a  Joint  enterprise  of  the  two  na- 
tions, as  the  name  indicates,  but  with  the  first-named 
partner  predominant.  Russia  had  thus  obtained  what  was 
for  most  of  the  year  an  ice-free  terminus  for  her  Siberian 
railway  and  was  in  a  position  to  dominate  all  Manchuria 
and  North  China.  She  could  effectively  block  Japanese 
commercial  and  industrial  expansion  by  virtually  closing 
the  ports  of  Manchuria  to  all  non-Russian  trade.  And  this 
she  tried  to  do.    Great  Britain,  it  may  be  added,  at  the 


172  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

same  time  obtained  a  lease  on  Wei-hai-wei,  the  fortified 
harbor  that  commanded  the  approach  to  Peking  from  the 
Shantung  side,  and  marked  out  for  herself  a  "sphere  of 
influence"  in  the  Yangtze  Valley  within  which  she  was  to 
have  the  preference  in  commerce  and  in  providing  capital 
for  railways,  industry,  and  mines.  France  was  given  a  lease 
and  a  sphere  of  influence  in  South  China.  Neither  Great 
Britain  or  France  were  as  yet  to  be  serious  rivals  of  Japan, 
however. 

japan's  part  in  repressing  boxer  outbreak 

Following  this  "leasing"  of  her  territory  and  the  parti- 
tioning of  the  empire  into  spheres  of  influence  there  was 
a  reform  movement  in  China.  Led  by  the  young  emperor, 
the  progressives  made  a  serious  effort  to  reorganize  their 
nation,  as  Japan  had  done,  by  adopting  Occidental  methods. 
A  reaction  followed  which  culminated  in  the  uprising  of 
1900,  an  armed  attempt,  led  by  the  Boxers  and  sanctioned 
by  the  imperial  court,  to  rid  the  land  of  the  Westerner. 
The  foreign  residents  in  Peking  were  besieged  in  the  lega- 
tion quarter  and  Christian  missionaries  and  their  converts 
were  killed  in  exposed  stations  throughout  North  China. 
Japan  was  looked  to  by  the  powers  to  help  restore  order, 
and  joined  in  a  relief  expedition  that  rescued  the  beleaguered 
foreigners  in  Peking.  By  the  disciphne  and  efficiency  of 
her  contingent  she  won  the  respect  of  the  world  and  demon- 
strated her  right  to  a  voice  in  all  international  councils 
over  Chinese  affairs. 

EVENTS  preceding  RUSSO-JAPANESE  WAR 

Russia  had  taken  advantage  of  the  Bojcer  disturbances 
to  rush  troops  into  Manchuria,  ostensibly  to  protect  her 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  173 

citizens  and  her  property.  After  the  uprising  was  over  she 
still  maintained  her  forces  in  that  region  and  seemed  deter- 
mined on  a  permanent  occupation.  Japan  protested,  and 
the  United  States,  newly  aroused  to  an  interest  in  the  Far 
East  by  her  entrance  into  the  Philippines,  attempted  to 
insure  in  Manchuria,  as  elsewhere  in  China,  the  principle 
of  territorial  integrity  and  the  "open  door,"  or  equal 
economic  and  political  privileges  for  the  citizens  of  all 
nations.  Russia  at  times  seemed  to  comply  and  promised 
to  remove  her  troops.  In  reality  she  had  no  serious  inten- 
tion of  yielding  and  sought  an  agreement  with  China 
which  would  virtually  have  turned  Manchuria  into  a  Rus- 
sian province  and  which  failed  only  because  of  the  strong 
protests  of  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  and  Japan. 
She  did,  however,  obtain  special  privileges  in  the  coveted 
region  and  in  1903  appointed  a  "viceroy"  to  administer 
her  interests  on  the  Amur  and  in  Manchuria,  treating  the 
latter  region  almost  as  though  it  were  already  her  own. 

It  became  increasingly  evident  to  Japan  that  she  must 
fight.  Russia  seemingly  had  no  intention  of  withdrawing 
from  Manchuria  and  declined  seriously  to  recognize  the 
Japanese  claim  to  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  that  district. 
Should  she  stay  she  would  probably  succeed  in  keeping  the 
door  closed  and  in  crippling  the  growth  of  Japanese  com- 
merce. She  would  certainly  threaten  Japanese  interests 
in  Korea.  Japan  sought  by  every  honorable  means  to 
avoid  an  appeal  to  arms.  She  tried  negotiations,  but  the 
Russians  would  not  concede  that  she  had  any  right  to  be 
heard  in  Manchurian  questions,  and  although  they  ac- 
knowledged that  she  had  special  interests  in  Korea,  they 
insisted  on  placing  restrictions  on  her  control  of  that  king- 
dom. Japan  would  probably  have  welcomed  an  alliance 
with  Russia  had  the  latter  been  willing  to  make  what 


174  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

seemed  to  Tokyo  a  fair  division  of  influence  in  the  Far 
East.    This  alliance,  indeed,  was  a  favorite  aim  of  Ito. 

Foreseeing  the  approaching  conflict,  Japan  continued 
to  strengthen  her  army  and  navy  and  entered  into  a  pact 
with  Great  Britain.  This  Anglo- Japanese  Alliance,  con- 
cluded early  in  1902,  was  limited  in  its  scope  to  China  and 
Korea,  and  recognized  the  special  interests  of  Great  Britain 
in  China  and  of  Japan  in  China  and  Korea.  It  provided 
that  in  case  either  ally  went  to  war  with  another  power  to 
defend  these  interests  the  other  would  remain  neutral  and 
would  use  its  influence  to  keep  other  powers  from  attacking 
its  ally.  In  case  one  or  more  additional  powers  were  to 
join  in  the  hostilities  against  one  ally,  the  other  agreed  to 
come  to  its  assistance.  The  two  were  to  make  war  and 
peace  together.  The  agreement  was  to  be  in  force  for  five 
years.  England  was  beginning  to  see  threatened  the 
dominant  commercial  position  she  had  held  in  China  in 
the  earlier  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  especially 
feared  Russian  aggression.  She  was  quite  willing  to  see 
Japan  attack  her  rival.  The  agreement  was,  however, 
chiefly  of  benefit  to  Japan,  for  it  gave  her  the  prestige  of 
alliance  with  the  leading  financial,  naval,  and  commercial 
power  of  the  world,  and  virtually  insured  the  isolation  of 
Russia  in  the  coming  struggle:  other  European  powers 
would  probably  not  care  to  join  the  Czar  at  the  expense  of 
a  war  with  England.  It  gave  to  Japan,  too,  the  much 
needed  support  of  the  London  bankers. 

THE  RUSSO-JAPANESE   WAR,    1904-1905 

Even  with  the  British  alliance  the  outcome  of  a  war 
with  Russia  was  by  no  means  a  certain  victory  for  Japan, 
and  the  latter  sought  by  long  negotiations  to  preserve 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  175 

peace.  St.  Petersburg  persistently  refused  to  grant  Japan's 
demands  and  seemingly  held  her  in  contempt.  The  Japa- 
nese offered  to  recognize  Manchuria  as  outside  their  sphere 
of  influence  providing  Russia  would  similarly  state  that 
Korea  was  outside  her  own  sphere.  This  St.  Petersburg 
refused  to  do.  Not  only  that,  but  Russian  activities  at 
Seoul  and  on  the  southern  coast  and  northern  frontiers  of 
Korea  convinced  Tokyo  that  the  imperialists  in  charge  of 
the  Czar's  government  were  engaged  in  a  deliberately  ag- 
gressive policy  in  the  peninsula  itself.  From  Japan's  stand- 
point the  only  alternative  was  war.  Both  powers  had  been 
actively  preparing  but  Japan  obtained  the  initial  advantage 
by  a  prompt  attack  following  the  severance  of  diplomatic 
relations  (February,  1904).  For  over  a  year  hostilities 
continued.  Russia  fought  under  a  handicap;  the  field  of 
battle  was  thousands  of  miles  from  her  European  posses- 
sions, the  source  of  most  of  her  men  and  supplies,  and  the 
only  connecting  link  was  a  single-track  railway;  her  ad- 
ministration, particularly  of  her  navy,  was  handicapped 
by  corruption  and  incompetency.  The  Japanese  were 
near  home  and  were  splendidly  organized  and  led.  Their 
courage,  ability,  and  efficiency  were  the  surprise  and  ad- 
miration of  the  neutral  world.  The  Russian  armies  re- 
sisted stubbornly  but  were  steadily  driven  back.  The 
Czar's  fleets  which  might  have  imperiled  Japan's  com- 
munication with  her  armies  on  the  continent,  were  de- 
stroyed or  penned  up  in  Port  Arthur.  Port  Arthur  itself 
was  captured  after  a  desperate  resistance,  and  a  few  weeks 
later  Mukden,  the  capital  of  Manchuria,  fell  before  the 
Japanese  attack.  The  Baltic  fleet,  after  a  famous  cruise 
around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  was  destroyed  in  the 
Straits  of  Tsushima  between  Japan  and  Korea  in  the 
*' Battle  of  the  Sea  of  Japan."    The  island  empire's  com- 


176  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

mand  of  the  eastern  seas  could  no  longer  be  endangered.  In 
spite  of  her  reverses  Russia  was  by  no  means  crushed:  but 
for  internal  disturbances  she  might  still  have  persisted  and 
won.  The  war  was,  however,  unpopular  at  home,  and 
when  a  revolution  broke  out  St.  Petersburg  was  quite 
ready  to  begin,  peace  negotiations.  -  The  Japanese  states- 
men were  equally  willing  to  negotiate.  Success  on  the  field 
of  battle  had  so  far  been  with  them,  but  their  finances, 
already  overloaded  by  the  years  of  preparation,  were 
threatening  to  give  way  under  the  strain  of  prolonged  war. 
The  island  empire  was  not  a  wealthy  land  and  could  not 
continue  to  borrow  indefinitely.  Consequently  when 
President  Roosevelt  offered  his  mediation  both  powers  wel- 
comed it. 

The  resulting  negotiations  were  held  at  Portsmouth, 
New  Hampshire,  and  were  concluded  (September,  1905)  by 
the  treaty  bearing  the  name  of  that  city.  By  this  treaty 
(i)  Japan's  "paramount  political,  military,  and  economic 
interests"  in  Korea  were  recognized;  (2)  the  simultaneous 
evacuation  of  Korea  by  both  was  agreed  upon;  (3)  Russia 
transferred  to  the  Japanese  the  lease  of  the  portions  of  the 
Liaotung  peninsula  held  by  her,  and  her  railways  and 
mining  privileges  in  Southern  Manchuria;  ^  (4)  the  southern 
half  of  Sakhalin  was  given  to  Japan  by  Russia;  (5)  certain 
fishing  privileges  were  conceded  to  Japanese  in  the  seas  to 
the  North  and  West  of  their  islands;  and  (6)  each  power 
was  to  reimburse  the  other  for  the  expense  of  the  main- 
tenance of  prisoners  of  war,  the  balance  being  in  favor  of 
the  Japanese  by  about  twenty  million  dollars.  In  addi- 
tion (7)  each  was  allowed  to  keep  armed  railway  guards  in 
Manchuria  up  to  a  certain  specified  maximum  per  mile  of 
track,  (8)  neither  was  to  fortify  Sakhalin  or  use  the  Man- 
'  South  of  Kwan-Cheng-Tze  and  Chang-Chun. 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  177 

churian  railways  for  strategic  purposes,  and  (9)  both  were 
to  restore  and  respect  Chinese  sovereignty  in  Manchuria 
except  in  the  leased  territory,  and  were  to  maintain  there 
the  open  door  of  equal  commercial  and  industrial  oppor- 
tunity to  all  nations. 

The  treaty  was  intensely  impopular  in  Japan.  The 
mass  of  the  nation  had  expected  a  large  indemnity  and  the 
victory  had  seemed  so  decisive  that  the  terms  of  peace 
appeared  not  to  have  given  the  victor  all  she  had  justly 
earned  by  her  success  and  her  sacrifice  of  blood  and  treasure. 
The  Japanese  envoys  at  Portsmouth  had  at  the  beginning 
of  the  negotiations  demanded  a  large  indemnity,  probably 
not  in  the  expectation  of  obtaining  it,  but  as  a  diplomatic 
move  to  induce  the  Russians  to  make  larger  concessions 
of  territory  than  they  would  have  made  had  they  thought 
their  opponents  would  accept  peace  without  a  money 
payment.  The  demand  for  the  indemnity  was  dropped 
at  the  proper  moment,  but  the  Japanese  public  did  not 
understand  the  game  that  had  been  played  and  was  bit- 
terly and  angrily  disappointed.  Even  the  United  States 
shared  temporarily  in  the  abuse  heaped  by  the  populace 
on  the  treaty,  for  its  president  had  acted  as  mediator  and 
had  intervened  to  prevent  the  rupture  of  the  peace  con- 
ference, and  it  was  on  American  soil  that  the  negotiations 
had  been  carried  on. 


SEQUELS  TO   THE  RUSSO-JAPAJJESE  WAR 

And  yet  Japan's  imperialists  had  every  reason  to  be 
satisfied  with  her  gains.  She  had  blocked  the  Russian 
advance  and  had  established  herself  firmly  in  Korea  and 
Southern  Manchuria.  She  had  risen  to  the  position  of  a 
world  power;  she  was  the  one  non-European  nation  since 


178  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

the  wave  of  Turkish  invasion  had  begun  to  subside  that 
had  faced  successfully  on  the  field  of  battle  a  first-class 
Occidental  power.  Her  victory  was  heralded  all  through 
the  East  and  gave  heart  to  the  nationaUst  and  reform 
movements  in  Persia,  India,  and  China.  Far  Eastern 
peoples,  however  little  they  might  like  her,  looked  to  her 
as  a  model  and  as  a  prophecy  of  independence  from  the 
yoke  of  the  European.  Japan  had  demonstrated  that  the 
Westerner  was  not  invincible.  He  could  be  defeated  with 
his  own  weapons. 

Japan's  prestige  was  greatly  increased  in  the  Occident. 
In  August,  1905,  while  the  Portsmouth  negotiations  were 
still  in  progress,  the  Anglo- Japanese  alliance  was  renewed. 
The  maintenance  of  the  peace  of  the  Far  East,  the  integrity 
of  China,  and  the  open  door  into  that  land  were  provided 
for,  as  in  the  last  agreement.  The  scope  of  the  alliance  was 
extended  to  India  and  the  Far  East  in  general,  an  advantage 
to  England,  and  Japan's  special  interests  in  Korea  were 
again  recognized.  In  case  the  rights  of  either  power  within 
the  prescribed  areas  were  assailed  even  by  one  outside  power 
the  other  was  to  come  to  the  aid  of  its  ally.  England  was 
still  fearful  of  Russia,  and  desired  support  in  case  of  a 
possible  attack  on  India.  The  aUiance,  it  might  be  well  to 
add,  was  again  renewed  in  191 1,  this  time  also,  as  in  1905, 
for  ten  years.  The  triple  entente  had  by  this  time  been 
formed  by  England,  France  and  Russia,  and  British  fear  of 
the  latter's  aggression  on  India  and  China  had  been  re- 
moved, at  least  for  the  time;  but  Germany  was  now  looming 
on  the  horizon  as  a  very  possible  danger  and  it  seemed  wise 
to  have  an  agreement  with  Japan  in  the  event  of  attack  from 
that  quarter.  The  only  changes  of  importance  in  the  last 
renewal  were  the  omission  of  reference  to  Korea,  which, 
as  we  shall  see  later,  was  annexed  by  Japan  in  1910,  and 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  179 

the  provision  that  neither  power  should  by  the  alliance  be 
drawn  into  war  with  a  nation  with  which  it  had  a  treaty  of 
general  arbitration.  This  last  change,  in  the  eyes  of  many, 
was  designed  to  release  England  from  any  obhgation  to  help 
Japan  in  the  event  of  war  between  the  latter  and  the 
United  States,  for  Great  Britain  had  lately  negotiated  with 
America  a  treaty — ^which  had  not  yet  been  ratified — of  the 
kind  specified.  But  it  is  well  to  note  that  Japan  had  in 
1908  also  concluded  a  treaty  of  arbitration  with  the  United 
States.  In  that  same  year  the  latter  two  nations  had  also, 
by  the  Root-Takahira  agreement,  expressly  declared  to 
each  other  that  their  policy  was  to  maintain  the  status  quo 
and  to  respect  each  other's  territorial  possessions  in  the 
Pacific,  to  preserve  the  independence  and  integrity  of 
China  and  the  open  door,  and  to  communicate  with  each 
other  as  to  the  proper  action  to  be  taken  in  case  those 
principles  were  threatened.  France  and  Russia  in  1907  both 
entered  into  agreements  with  Japan  for  the  joint  support 
of  the  peace  of  the  Far  East,  recognizing  the  independence 
and  integrity  of  China.  TTiis  was  a  natural  accompaniment 
of  the  formation  in  the  same  year  of  the  triple  entente.  By 
these  agreements  and  others  to  be  mentioned  later,  Japan 
made  certain  the  recognition  of  her  voice  in  Far  Eastern 
afifairs.  She  could  no  longer,  as  before  1894  or  even  before 
1904,  be  ignored  or  treated  lightly. 

For  further  reading  see:  Brinkley,  Japan,  Its  History,  Arts 
and  Literature;  Brinkley,  A  History  of  the  Japanese  People; 
Asakawa,  The  Ru^so- Japanese  Conflict;  The  Secret  Memoirs  of 
Count  Hayashi;  Hornbeck,  Contemporary  Politics  in  the  Far  East. 


CHAPTER  XI 

1894  TO   1 9 18:  Japan  Takes  Her  Place  Among  the 
Powers  of  the  World 

2.  from  the  treaty  of  portsmouth  (1905)  to  1918 

reorganization  of  possessions  and  dependencies 

After  the  treaty  of  Portsmouth  the  Tokyo  statesmen  set 
themselves  to  the  task  of  organizing  their  territorial  acces- 
sions in  a  way  that  would  repay  the  nation  for  the  great 
sacrifices  entailed  by  the  two  wars.  Formosa,  of  course,  had 
been  theirs  since  1895.  It  had  been  one  thing,  however,  to 
exact  it  of  China,  and  another  to  occupy  it  and  make  of  it  a 
profitable  colony.  Its  west  coast  was  inhabited  by  Chinese 
who  resented  the  transfer  to  new  masters  and  offered  them 
armed  resistance.  When  this  was  put  down  the  Japanese 
faced  the  more  serious  enemy  of  -diaease,  for  the  land  had 
been  notoriously  unhealthful  and  the  Chinese  population 
had  l^n  maintained  only  by  continued  immigration  from 
the  mainland.  Japanese  doctors  have  succeeded  in  reducing 
the  death  rate  by  modern  sanitation  and  medicine.  The 
eastern  section  of  the  island  was  mountainous  and  was  in- 
habited by  savage  tribes  of  head-hunters.  Some  of  these 
the  Japanese  have  induced  to  settle  down  and  become  peace- 
ful agriculturalists.  The  recalcitrants  have  been  restricted 
to  increasingly  narrow  localities  by  drastic  police  measures 
and  constant  vigilance.  Japanese  administration  in  its 
initial  stages  was  honeycombed  with  corruption;  it  took 
time  to  evolve  an  honest,  efficient  government.  For  years 
•  180 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  i8i 

Formosa  was  a  drain  on  the  imperial  treasury.  Eventually, 
as  order  was  restored,  new  industries  were  introduced  and 
old  ones  improved,  railways  were  built,  administrative 
efficiency  was  increased,  and  the  island  ceased  to  be  a  dead 
weight  on  the  nation  and  became  more  nearly  a  contributor 
to  its  wealth.  Irrigation  has  been  fostered;  the  valuable 
forests  have  been  conserved  and  improved.  The  adminis- 
tration has  encouraged  the  three  great  staple  crops,  tea 
(in  the  northern  part  of  the  island),  rice  (in  the  center),  and 
sugar  (in  the  south).  The  production  of  sugar  has  been 
especially  aided,  for  the  larger  part  of  Japan's  supply  is 
imported.  Education  has  been  encouraged.  The  colonial 
officials  have  made  an  eager  and  careful  study  of  European 
colonial  adpiinistrations  and  are  trying  to  raise  the  islanders 
as  rapidly  ^as  possible  to  an  equality  with  Japan  in  civiliza- 
tion and  prosperity. 

In  1905  Korea  theoretically  still  had  her  independence. 
That  had  been  recognized  by  Japan  on  several  occasions, 
and  it  was  ostensibly  to  insure  it  that  the  war  with  China 
had  been  waged.  Had  the  court  at  Seoul  been  able  to  take 
steps  vigorously  and  promptly  to  reorganize  the  administra- 
ion  and  to  insure  the  independence  of  the  country  against 
European  and  Chinese  aggression,  it  is  quite  possible  that 
Japan  would  have  withdrawn  its  hand.  Tokyo  felt,  how- 
ever, that  Seoul  could  not  be  trusted  to  manage  its  own 
afifairs.  There  were,  it  is  true,  a  few  earnest  and  patriotic 
Korean  reformers  who  might  in  time,  if  they  had  been 
certain  of  being  unhampered  by  foreign  intrigues,  have 
worked  out  the  salvation  of  their  land;  but  Japan,  after  hei 
experiences  of  the  past  several  decades,  was  not  disposed  to 
grant  them  a  free  hand.  She  had  not  tried  to  combat  Rus- 
sian and  Chinese  intrigues  in  Seoul  and  in  two  wars  fought 
to  maintain  her  interests  in  the  neighboring  peninsula  ^o 


i82  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

risk  them  to  the  unhampered  control  of  a  feeble  monarch,  a 
corrupt  court,  and  a  few  imtried  and  possibly  erratic  re- 
formers. Moreover,  her  imperialistic  ambitions  had  been 
aroused.  Late  in  1905,  or  almost  immediately  after  the 
treaty  of  Portsmouth,  she  obtained  the  unwilling  assent  of 
Seoul  to  a  treaty  which  turned  over  to  her  the  control  of  the 
foreign  affairs  of  the  peninsular  kingdom  and  provided  for  a 
Japanese  resident-general  to  supervise  the  administration. 
This  agreement,  it  is  true,  partly  nullified  the  independence 
that  had  been  repeatedly  recognized  by  Japan,  and  en- 
dangered the  treaty  rights  of  other  powers.  But  Europe 
and  America  consented  to  the  change,  and  Korean  patriots, 
however  bitter  they  might  feel,  could  not  hope  to  resist 
successfully.  Ito  imdertook  to  fill  the  post  of  resident- 
general.  He  attempted  still  to  preserve  the  native  court 
and  administrative  machinery,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
parallel  it  with  a  system  of  Japanese  advisers  and  to  reform 
completely  the  finance,  police,  laws,  administration  of 
justice,  education,  sanitation,  industry,  and  commerce  of 
the  land.  He  naturally  had  in  mind  the  development  of 
the  peninsula  for  the  benefit  of  his  nation,  but  he  professed, 
and  there  is  no  valid  reason  for  doubting  his  sincerity,  that 
he  was  actuated  as  well  by  a  desire  to  promote  the  interests 
of  the  Koreans  themselves.  His,  however,  was  an  almost 
impossible  position.  The  dual  system  of  government  was 
at  best  a  clumsy  one.  Korean  officialdom  could  not  be 
purged  of  inefficiency  and  corruption  in  a  day,  and  co- 
operated sullenly  or  not  at  all.  The  Japanese  were  heartily 
disliked  by  the  Koreans  as  a  whole.  The  inevitablfe  friction 
between  the  two  peoples  was  increased  by  the  high-handed 
action  of  many  Japanese  officials  and  immigrants,  who 
looked  upon  the  peninsula  as  conquered  territory  and  a 
legitimate  field  for  exploitation,  |  There  was  in  Tokyo, 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  f  183 

moreover,  a  strong  party  of  imperialists  who  desired  the 
complete  amiexation  of  the  country.  In  1909,  after  a  term 
of  less  than  four  years,  Ito  withdrew,  virtually  confessing 
his  failure,  and  shortly  afterward  was  assassinated  by  a 
Korean  fanatic.  The  form  of  dual  government  was  main-* 
tained  a  few  months  longer,  but  in  August,  19 10,  Korea 
formally  signed  a  treaty  that  annexed  her  to  Japan.  Under 
the  old  name  of  Chosen  Korea  was  made  an  integral  part  of 
the  empire.  When  one  considers  the  weakness  of  the  coim- 
try,  its  important  strategic  position,  the  selfishness  and 
ambitions  of  European  powers,  and  Japan's  sacrifices  in 
war,  one  does  not  wonder  at  the  annexation,  as  much  as  he 
may  regret  some  features  of  it.  It  had  been  demonstrated 
that  Korea  could  not  maintain  her  independence:  it  was 
simply  a  question  of  which  power  should  control  her.  All 
things  considered,  it  was  probably  better  for  the  world  and 
for  Korea  that  that  power  should  be  Japan. 

The  Tokyo  statesmen  have  tried  earnestly  and  vigorously 
to  increase  the  wealth  of  the  land  and  to  insure  the  Japaniza- 
tion,  if  one  may  use  that  term,  of  the  Chosenese.  Brig- 
andage has  been  reduced,  railway  and  highway  construc- 
tion promoted,  agricultural  and  sericultural  experiment 
stations  have  been  multiphed,  much-needed  afforestation 
has  been  undertaken,  and  industry  has  been  encouraged. 
By  the  treaty  of  annexation,  the  retired  royal  house  was 
pensioned  and  honored  and  Koreans  were  promised  official 
positions  if  they  were  loyal  and  competent.  Japan  evi- 
dently has  wished  the  Chosenese  to  become  loyal  subjects 
of  the  emperor.  It  has  been  hoped,  too,  that  as  rapidly  as 
possible  they  would  become  amalgamated  with  the  Japa- 
nese. It  is  pointed  out  that  the  two  peoples  are  closely 
related  and  that  the  task  is  quite  feasible.  To  promote  its 
accomplishment  the  Japanese  laws  and  law  courts  have 


1 84  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

been  extended  to  the  peninsula,  schools  have  been  founded, 
and  the  modem  educational  institutions  of  the  land,  here- 
tofore largely  owned  and  operated  by  Christian  missionaries 
from  the  West,  have  been  made  as  far  as  possible  to  con- 
form to  the  Japanese  system  and  to  submit  themselves  to 
official  control.  The  use  of  the  Japanese  language  has  been 
encouraged  and  where  feasible  required. 

The  Chosenese  have  not  faced  the  prospect  of  assimila- 
tion with  unalloyed  pleasure.  There  has  been  at  times 
a  deep  undercurrent  of  discontent.  Christian  missions, 
begun  long  before  annexation,  have  prospered  as  they 
had  in  no  other  Far  Eastern  land  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  the  Japanese,  fearing  lest  sedition  should  cloak  itself 
with  religion  and  seek  refuge  in  the  church,  have  naturally 
been  suspicious  of  the  influence  of  the  foreign  pastor  over 
his  flock.  At  times  friction  has  occurred,  notably  over  the 
state  supervision  of  missionary  schools  and  the  attempt  to 
secularize  them,  and  over  the  trial  of  a  number  of  native 
Christians,  most  of  them,  possibly  all  of  them,  innocent, 
on  the  charge  of  plotting  against  the  government.  The 
Japanese  have  shown  no  signs  of  weakening  in  their  pur- 
pose of  completing  the  assimilation  of  the  peninsula,  how- 
ever, and  the  Chosenese  cannot  hope  to  present  more 
than  a  passive  resistance:  they  are,  indeed,  increasingly 
contented.  The  land  has  been  a  drain  on  the  imperial 
treasury,  but  the  subsidies  have  been  decreased  year  by 
year  and  it  is  expected  that  they  will  soon  be  no  longer 
needed. 

Sakhalin,  or  Karafuto  as  it  is  called  by  the  Japanese, 
has  not  yet  proved  a  very  profitable  acquisition.  In  the 
southern  half,  the  section  ceded  by  Russia  in  the  treaty 
of  Portsmouth,  there  are  several  hundred  square  miles  of 
arable  lands,  and  a  few  thousand  Japanese  have  come  in 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  185 

and  settled  on  them.  The  fisheries  are  to-day  the  most 
important  income-producing  feature  of  the  island.  Their 
annual  value  has  approached  the  four  million  dollar  mark. 
The  island  has  several  undeveloped  sources  of  income;  its 
forests  are  the  most  extensive  of  any  section  of  the  empire, 
and  there  are  valuable  deposits  of  coal.  The  Tokyo  treas- 
ury has  had  to  make  a  yearly  contribution  to  the  local 
budget,  however,  for  the  island  has  been  so  sparsely  settled 
that  it  is  not  yet  paying  its  own  way. 

japan's   growing  interest  and  power  in  MANCHURIA 

In  Manchuria  Japan's  position  was  not  as  predominant  as 
in  Korea  nor  her  policy  as  clearly  indicated  for  her  by  local 
conditions.  She  had  gone  to  war  with  Russia  ostensibly 
to  defend  the  open  door  and  the  integrity  of  China.  By 
the  fortunes  of  war,  she  found  herself  on  the  conclusion  of 
peace  in  the  possession  of  the  very  Russian  holdings  in 
South  Manchuria  against  the  prejudicial  tendency  of  which 
she  had  protested.  Consistency  and  loyalty  to  pledges 
repeatedly  made  in  treaties  and  conventions  with  various 
powers  demanded  that  she  scrupulously  respect  Chinese 
sovereignty  and  the  principle  of  equal  economic  opportunity 
for  all.  Many  Japanese  felt,  however,  that  the  war  had 
so  altered  conditions  that  a  strict  adherence  to  promises 
made  earlier  should  not  be  insisted  upon.  Japanese  lives 
by  the  thousand  had  been  poured  out  on  Manchurian  soil 
to  defend  it  against  Russia,  while  China,  the  nominal 
sovereign,  stood  idly  and  helplessly  by.  Japan  had  loaded 
taxes  on  her  people  almost  to  the  breaking  point  and  had 
accumulated  an  immense  war  debt  which  would  be  a 
burden  on  generations  yet  unborn,  while  China  had  spent 
scarcely  a  dollar.    The  Japanese  would  not  have  been  human 


i86  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

had  they  not  desired  to  use  for  their  own  advantage  the 
territory  taken  at  so  much  cost.  Moreover,  the  successes 
of  the  war  had  strengthened  the  imperialistic  ambitions 
of  the  nation.  Manchuria  was  a  most  tempting  field  of 
expansion.  It  bordered  on  Korea;  it  was  possessed  of  im- 
mense and  almost  virgin  resom"ces  of  field,  mine,  and 
forest;  it  was  still  a  frontier  country;  it  had  been  a  part  of 
China  for  less  than  three  centuries  and  only  recently  had 
the  Chinese  entered  it  in  large  numbers;  it  was  now  being 
rapidly  settled  by  these  and  they  were  demonstrating  by 
the  results  of  their  farming  the  immense  fertility  of  the 
land.  Japan,  moreover,  needed  room  for  expansion.  Her 
population  was  steadily  increasing.  In  1891  it  had  been 
40,718,677,  in  1899,  44,260,652,  in  1903,  46,732,876,  and 
by  1908  it  was  to  be  49,588,804.  The  arable  land  of  the 
islands  was  not  all  occupied,  but  the  limit  was  in  sight. 
The  pressure  of  population  must  be  relieved  either  by 
emigration  or  by  promoting  industry  and  the  exchange  of 
its  products  abroad  for  food.  In  either  case  Manchuria 
was  greatly  to  be  desired.  It  was  a  comparatively  virgin 
land  to  which  Japanese  might  go  and  still  for  military  pur- 
poses not  be  lost  to  the  home  land.^  Its  rapidly  increas- 
ing population  offered  a  promising  market,  and  its  mines, 
forests,  and  fields  were  sources  of  abundant  raw  materials. 
Considering  all  the  temptations  that  Manchuria  pre- 
sented and  the  cost  at  which  a  foothold  in  it  had  been  ac- 
quired, it  would  have  been  strange,  although  highly  com- 
mendable, had  Japan  stayed  strictly  by  her  plighted  word. 
She  did,  however,  pay  attention  to  China's  claims  to  sov- 
ereignty.   Even  after  the  treaty  of  Portsmouth  she  sought 

^  It  has  later  been  claimed  that  the  Japanese  do  not  care  to  go  much 
to  Manchuria  as  laborers  or  farmers,  for  they  are  brought  into  com- 
petition with  the  Chinese  and  their  lower  standards  of  living. 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  187 

and  obtained  from  Peking  the  confirmation  of  the  provisions 
of  that  document  in  so  far  as  they  affected  Chinese  rights. 
In  a  set  of  secret  protocols  Japan's  control  in  Manchuria 
was  confirmed  by  provisions  that  were  beHeved  by  many  to 
threaten  the  open  door:  other  powers  were  apparently  not 
to  be  allowed  railway  concessions  save  with  the  consent 
of  Japan,  and  the  Chinese  were  not  to  build  lines  that  would 
compete  with  those  owned  by  the  Japanese. 

AMERICANS  AND  THE  MANCHURIAN  RAILWAYS 

There  were  efforts  to  loosen  Japan's  hold  on  Manchuria. 
The  ink  was  hardly  dry  on  the  treaty  of  Portsmouth  before 
Harriman.  had  agreed  with  the  Tokyo  authorities  to  buy 
the  roads  that  had  been  taken  from  Russia.     The_great 


dpan  railway  genius  planned  to  obtain  control  of  the 
trans-STBeriaifroad,  to  span  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  with 
steamship  lines,  and  thus  to  belt  the  world  with  a  trans- 
portation system  controlled  by  himself.  This  arrange- 
ment, however,  stood  in  the  way  of  Japanese  expansion, 
and  while  favored  by  Ito  was  a^rogateduaa-the  ad\dc6  of 
the  Japanese  chief  commissioner  to  Portsmouth.  Both 
British  and  American  financiers  sought  from  China  rail- 
way concessions  in  both  the  Japanese  and  Russian  spheres 
of  influence.^  Harriman  negotiated  for  the  lines  in  Man- 
churia still  held  by  Russia.  The  United  States  through 
Secretary  Knox  proposed  a  scheme  for  the  neutralizarion 
of  the  railways  of  Manchuria.  The  powers  were  jointly  to 
lend  China  money  to  purchase  the  existing  Russian  and 
Japanese  lines  and  to  construct  such  additional  roads  as 
might  be  needed .     The  administration  of  the  roads  was  to 

1  Principally  the  railroad  from  Chinchow  in  South  Manchuria  to 
Aigun  on  the  Amur. 


i88  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

be  for  a  time  in  the  hands  of  an  international  commission. 
The  plan  was  significant,  for  had  it  been  carried  out,  it 
would  have  meant  a  precedent  for  the  substitution  of 
a  benevolent  international  protectorate  over  China  for 
"spheres  of  influence,"  "leased  territories,"  "special  in- 
terests," and  other  forms  under  which  each  nation  was 
trying  to  obtain  for  its  exclusive  enjoyment  some  part  of 
the  country.  If  successful,  Kjiox's  plan  would  have  les- 
sened intrigues  and  reduced  causes  of  friction  and  war.  To 
the  American  proposal  Japanese  and  Russian  expansionists 
could  hardly  be  expected  to  agree,  and  since  they  were  in 
control  at  their  respective  capitals,  alarm  at  the  threatened 
action  led  the  two  countries  not  only  to  disapprove  publicly 
of  the  plan,  but  to  enter  into  an  agreement  (1910)  to  act 
jointly  to  conserve  and  coordinate  their  interests  in  Man- 
churia. The  former  enemies  had  been  driven  together  by 
the  American  suggestion  and  their  common  interests.  The 
temptation  was  great  to  obtain  special  privileges  for  Japa- 
nese merchants  as  well  as  for  Japanese  railroads.  The  ac- 
cusation was  repeatedly  made  that  by  manipulation  of 
the  customs,  railroad  rebates,  preferential  rates  of  interest 
in  the  Manchurian  branches  of  the  Yokohama  Specie 
Bank,  and  the  evasion  of  taxes,  the  Japanese  were  obtain- 
ing favors  for  their  own  goods  and  merchants  at  the  ex- 
pense of  those  of  other  powers.  In  some  instances  the 
complaints  may  have  been  well-founded,  but  if  there  was 
a  violation  of  the  open  door  it  was  more  by  indirect  than 
by  direct  methods.  It  was  seldom  if  ever  as  apparent  as 
had  been  that  practiced  by  Russia. 

'*7'^^^  japan's  interest  in  china  to  1914 

Japan's  interest  in  China  was  not  confined  to  Manchuria 
and  events  were  soon  to  take  place  which  would  give  her 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  189 

a  larger  voice  in  the  affairs  of  her  huge  neighbor.  If  Man- 
churia was  a  rich  field  for  commercial,  mining,  and  indus- 
trial exploitation,  China  proper  was  even  more  so.  There 
was  a  huge  industrious  and  thrifty  population  variously 
estimated  at  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  to  four 
hundred  millions,  potentially  the  greatest  market  in  the 
world.  There  were  great  supplies  of  raw  material  and  of 
coal  and  iron,  of  the  last  of  which  Japan,  without  much 
iron  ore  of  her  own,  stood  particularly  in  need.  There  was 
the  natural  field  for  the  commercial  expansion  that  Japan 
must  have  if  she  were  to  find  occupation  and  food  for  her 
increasing  population  and  to  insure  her  continued  progress 
as  a  nation.  Why  should  she  not  direct  the  transformation 
and  organization  of  this  unwieldy,  newly  awakened  land, 
and  the  development  of  its  resources?  Why  should  she 
not  make  secure  Chinese  independence  of  Europe  and 
furnish  advisers  for  the  schools,  the  diplomacy,  and  the 
civil  and  military  administration  of  the  great  empire? 
Why  should  the  two  lands  not  form  a  close  alliance  under 
the  leadership  of  Tokyo  that  would  insure  to  Orientals 
the  possession  of  the  Far  East,  and  exercise  a  decisive  in- 
fluence in  world  affairs?  Moreover  by  her  possession  of 
Chosen  and  her  special  interests  in  Manchuria,  Japan  was 
under  the  necessity  of  watching,  and  if  possible  controlling 
diplomacy  in  Peking. 

By  every  device  known  to  industry  and  commerce  Japan's 
trade  with  the  Eighteen  Provinces  ^  was  encouraged. 
Heavily  subsidized  steamers  plied  the  waters  of  the  Yangtze 
and  its  tributaries;  Japanese  post-ofl5ces  and  consulates 
were  opened  in  the  main  treaty  ports;  Japanese  merchants 
came  in  by  the  hundreds;  and  Japanese  teachers  were  to 
be  foimd  in  Chinese  government  schools.  Since  1901 
1 A  name  given  to  China  proper. 


I90  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Chinese  students  had  flocked  to  Japan  by  the  thousands, 
j&nding  in  Tokyo  a  nearer  and  less  expensive  source  of 
Western  learning  than  the  university  centers  of  the  Occi- 
dent. Returning,  they  had  given  a  decidedly  Japanese 
flavor  to  the  reform  movement  in  their  home  land. 

The  Chinese  revolution  of  191 1  that  overthrew  the 
Manchu  dynasty  and  established  in  its  place  a  republic 
gave  Japan  fresh  opportunities  for  interference  in  the  in- 
ternal affairs  of  her  neighbor.  It  is  true  that  the  revolu- 
tion was  accompanied  by  a  patriotic  movement  that  re- 
sented foreign  influence,  and  that  Yuan  Shih  K'ai,  the 
president  of  the  united  republic,  had  been  of  old,  as  his 
country's  representative  in  Seoul  before  the  Chino- Japanese 
war,  an  enemy  of  Japan.  But  with  the  revolution  came 
disorder  and  temporary  decentralization.  The  one  led  to 
offenses  against  a  few  individual  Japanese,  which  gave 
Tokyo  an  opportunity  to  overawe  the  Chinese  by  vigorous 
demands  for  satisfaction.  The  other  weakened  Peking. 
Some  of  those  who  sought  to  oppose  Yuan  naturally  looked 
to  Japan  for  aid.  It  has  not  been  proved  that  the  Tokyo 
government  ever  gave  Chinese  rebels  direct  aid,  but  in- 
dividual, over-enthusiastic  Japanese,  some  of  them  officials, 
were  guilty  of  helping  them.  The  revolution,  too,  brought 
a  need  for  more  money.  Yuan  was  put  to  it  to  find  funds 
to  pay  his  troops  and  to  maintain  and  reorganize  the  gov- 
ernment. A  group  of  foreign  bankers,  made  up  originally 
of  representatives  of  France,  Germany,  England,  and  the 
United  States,  offered  to  make  a  huge  loan  to  be  secured 
by  receipts  from  taxes,  notably  the  salt  monopoly,  and 
on  the  condition  that  in  the  future  China  should  borrow 
exclusively  from  that  group.  Japan  and  Russia  demanded 
and  obtained  entrance  into  the  charmed  circle,  and  the 
"sextuple  syndicate"  seemed  about  to  institute  a  joint 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  191 

protectorate  over  China's  finances.  The  American  mem- 
bers of  the  syndicate  withdrew  soon  after  President  Wilson 
came  into  office,  for  he  had  declined  his  support  on  the 
groimd  that  by  the  terms  of  the  loan  China's  autonomy 
would  be  jeopardized.  The  representatives  of  the  remain- 
ing five  powers  made  the  loan,  although  this  did  not  carry 
with  it  quite  the  drastic  monopoly  on  the  finances  of  China 
that  had  at  first  been  contemplated.  Japan,  with  the 
other  four  powers,  was  by  it  given  a  firmer  hold  on  China. 

RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA,    1914-1916 

Then  in  August,  1914,  came  the  Great  War.  By  the 
terms  of  her  alliance  with  Great  Britain  Japan  was  under 
obligation  to  come  to  the  former's  assistance  in  case  she 
were  attacked  in  the  Far  East,  and  to  consider  in  common 
with  her  the  measures  that  should  be  taken  to  safeguard 
any  interests  in  the  same  region  that  were  threatened  by 
the  Germans.  Japan  was  quite  ready  to  assume  to  the  full 
her  obligations  under  the  alliance,  for  it  gave  her  an  un- 
precedented opportunity  to  establish  herself  in  China  and 
the  Pacific.  With  the  European  powers  busy  elsewhere  and 
with  the  known  reluctance  of  the  United  States  to  use  force 
to  preserve  the  open  door,  she  could  do  on  the  neighboring 
continent  almost  as  she  pleased.  On  August  15th  Japan 
presented  a  note  to  the  German  government  "advising" 
it  to  withdraw  from  Far  Eastern  waters  all  its  men-of-war 
and  armed  vessels,  to  disarm  those  that  could  not  be  with- 
drawn, and  to  give  up  to  her  the  leased  territory  of  Kiao 
Chau  "with  a  view  to  the  eventual  restoration  of  the 
same  to  China."  The  note  made  one  strangely  reminiscent 
of  the  German  communication  to  Japan  in  1895.  Ger- 
many sent  no  reply  and  Japan  entered  the  war.    She  aided 


192  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

England  in  clearing  Asiatic  waters  of  German  cnusers  and 
raiders  and  captured  some  of  the  German  Pacific  islands 
which,  by  the  way,  are  not  without  strategic  importance. 
With  some  slight  assistance  from  her  ally  she  sent  a  force 
to  China  and  after  a  siege  captured  Tsingtao  and  occupied 
the  German  railways  and  mines  in  Shantung.  Count 
Okuma,  then  the  premier,  publicly  and  in  writing  dis- 
avowed any  territorial  ambitions.  Japan  said  she  had 
"no  ulterior  motive,  no  desire  to  secure  more  territory,  no 
thought  of  depriving  China  or  other  peoples  of  anything 
which  they  now  possess."  The  temptation  offered  by  the 
imusual  opportunity,  however,  proved  very  great,  too 
great,  in  fact,  to  be  entirely  resisted.  In  the  attack  on 
Tsingtao  China's  neutrality  was  accorded  scant  respect 
and  repeated  complaints  were  made  by  the  Chinese  of 
usurpations  of  authority  by  Japanese  troops  and  officials 
in  and  near  the  railway  zone.  Tsingtao  was  treated  as  con- 
quered territory,  even  to  the  exclusion  of  British  interests. 

But  Japan  was  preparing  for  a  more  far-reaching  move. 
Early  in  191 5  she  made  certain  demands  on  Peking,  de- 
mands which  if  granted  in  full  would  place  the  huge  con- 
tinental republic  completely  under  the  tutelage  of  its  island 
neighbor.    These  were  in  five  groups. 

First:  in  regard  to  Shantung,  China  was  to  promise  to 
give  her  assent  to  anything  upon  which  the  Japanese  and 
German  governments  might  agree  in  regard  to  the  rights 
which  the  latter  possessed  in  the  province.  She  was  to 
engage  not  to  cede  or  to  lease  to  any  third  power  any  terri- 
tory within  or  along  the  coast  of  Shantung.  She  was  to 
give  to  Japan  an  additional  railway  concession  and  to 
open  new  ports  to  trade. 

Second:  in  regard  to  South  Manchuria  and  Eastern 
Inner  Mongolia,  the  leases  on  the  railways  and  ports  held 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  193 

by  Japan  were  to  be  extended  to  ninety-nine  years  instead 
of  the  twenty-five  years  for  which  they  were  first  made. 
Japanese  ofl&cials  and  civilians  were  to  have  the  right  not 
only  in  the  railway  zones  and  treaty  ports,  but  everywhere 
in  the  two  regions,  to  travel,  to  reside,  to  lease  or  buy  land 
for  trading,  manufacturing  or  agricultural  purposes,  to 
engage  in  any  business  they  wished,  and  to  open  such 
mines  as  China  and  Japan  might  agree  upon.  Such  ex- 
tensive privileges  of  residence  and  ownership  of  land  had 
not  been  granted  elsewhere  in  China  to  foreigners  other 
than  missionaries:  exterritorial  rights  had  had  as  a  corollary 
the  restriction  of  most  foreign  residence  and  business  to 
treaty  ports,  where  the  necessary  consular  courts  could 
be  operated  without  too  much  prejudice  to  Chinese  juris- 
diction. China  was  to  promise,  too,  that  the  Japanese 
government  would  be  consulted  before  any  foreign  ad- 
visers were  employed  for  South  Manchuria  or  Eastern 
Inner  Mongolia,  and  that  before  Peking  granted  a  railway 
concession  or  made  a  loan  on  the  security  of  the  taxes  of 
these  districts,  Tokyo's  consent  would  first  be  obtained. 
A  lease  was  to  be  given  Japan  on  a  short  railway  ^  hitherto 
outside  its  control.  The  effect  of  this  second  group  of 
concessions,  if  they  were  granted,  would  be  to  strengthen 
Japan's  control  over  some  of  the  richest  sections  of  China 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  possible  interference  from  the  outside, 
while  still  preserving  the  semblance  of  the  open  door  and 
Chinese  sovereignty. 

Third:  the  Han-yeh-ping  Company,  a  home-owned  en- 
terprise which  operated  the  greatest  iron  works  in  China,^ 
and  which  controlled  extensive  bodies  of  iron  ore  and  coal, 

^  From  Kirin  to  Chang-Chun. 

2  At  Hanyang,  across  the  Han  River  from  Hankow,  the  great  river 
port  of  Central  China. 


194  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

was,  when  the  opportune  moment  arrived,  to  be  made  the 
joint  undertaking  of  Japan  and  China.  Without  the  con- 
sent of  the  former  the  latter  was  not  to  dispose  of  her  rights 
in  the  company,  and  without  the  company's  permission 
she  was  not  to  permit  mines  in  the  neighborhood  of  those 
owned  by  it  to  be  worked,  or  any  enterprise  affecting  its 
interests  to  be  undertaken.  The  properties  of  the  Han-yeh- 
ping  Company  were  in  the  heart  of  China,  within  the 
region  that  less  than  twenty  years  before  had  been  marked 
out  by  the  British  as  a  sphere  of  influence.  The  company 
was  in  financial  straits  and  had  already  borrowed  from 
Japanese.  Its  control  by  the  Japanese  and  the  strength- 
ening of  their  political  influence  in  that  region  would  be 
made  certain  were  the  demand  granted.  Japan,  sadly 
deficient  in  iron  ore  of  her  own,  would  be  assured  a  supply 
that  would  probably  be  adequate  for  years  to  come. 

Fourth:  China  was  not  to  cede  or  to  lease  to  any  other 
power  than  Japan  any  harbor,  bay,  or  island  along  her  coast. 

The  fiith  group  comprised  a  series  of  demands  which 
more  completely  than  the  other  four  would,  if  granted, 
place  China  imder  the  tutelage  of  her  neighbor.  The 
Chinese  government  was  to  employ  Japanese  as  advisers 
in  political,  financial,  and  military  affairs;  the  police  depart- 
ments of  important  places  in  China  were  to  be  under  the 
joint  administration  of  the  two  nations;  China  was  either 
to  purchase  of  her  neighbor  fifty  per  cent  or  more  of  her 
munitions  of  war,  or  a  joint  arsenal  was  to  be  established 
employing  Japanese  experts  and  using  Japanese  material. 
Japanese  hospitals,  schools,  and  churches  might  own  land 
in  the  heart  of  China,  and  the  right  to  propagate  religious 
doctrines  ^  was  to  be  acknowledged.    Certain  railway  conces- 

^The  doctrines  were  presumably  Buddhist.  The  reason  for  this 
demand  is  somewhat  obscure,  but  it  was  apparently  to  encourage 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  195 

sions  in  the  Yangtze  Valley  were  to  be  granted,  and  no  foreign 
capital  for  the  development  of  Fuhkien,  the  province  opposite 
Formosa,  was  to  be  employed  without  first  consulting  Japan. 

These  demands  aroused  a  storm  of  protest  in  China, 
vigorous  criticism  in  many  foreign  quarters,  and  much 
opposition  even  in  Japan.  To  accede  to  them  seemed  to 
the  Chinese  to  mean  the  virtual  surrender  of  independence. 
But  Peking  was  not  in  a  position  to  offer  armed  resistance. 
The  nation  was  disorganized  and  in  sad  financial  straits, 
and  its  army  could  not  hope  to  oppose  successfully  the 
fighting  machine  of  its  doughty  neighbor.  Europe  was  too 
busy  with  its  own  affairs  to  protest,  and  the  United  States, 
even  if  it  objected,  could  be  coimted  on  not  to  back  up 
its  complaints  by  force.  Long  negotiations  followed,  and 
early  in  May  Tokyo  presented  Peking  with  what  was  vir- 
tually an  ultimatum,  demanding  the  immediate  acceptance 
of  the  provisions  of  the  first  four  groups.  The  discussion 
of  the  fifth  group  was  to  be  postponed  for  the  time.  To 
this  ultimatum  China  was  constrained  to  yield  and  by 
treaties  and  the  exchange  of  notes  granted  all  that  Japan 
had  asked,  with  the  exception  of  the  fifth  group,  the  dis- 
cussion on  which  was  postponed.  It  may  be  noted  that 
while  the  fifth  group  was  not  formally  conceded,  certain 
features  of  it  have  been  partially  carried  out  in  practice, 
for  Japanese  advisers  to  the  government  are  increasing 
in  nimibers  and  influence. 

Disorders  in  Eastern  Inner  Mongolia  in  19 16  gave  Japan 
the  excuse  for  a  demand  for  still  further  control  over  the 
policing  of  the  region  involved.  Again  China  could  only 
protest,  but  this  time  Tokyo  was  in  a  more  conciliatory 
mood  and  compromised. 

Japanese  Buddhist  missionaries  to  come  to  China  to  offset  the  strong 
Occidental  influence  exercised  by  Christian  missionaries. 


196  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Japan  was  now  unquestionably  the  leading  power  in 
China.  Her  predominance  was  spectacularly  made  apparent 
when  in  December,  191 5,  the  Japanese  charge  d'affaires 
acted  as  spokesman  for  a  group  made  up  of  himself  and  the 
French  and  British  ministers,  the  latter  the  dean  of  the 
diplomatic  corps  in  Peking,  in  a  formal  protest  to  Yuan 
Shih  K'ai  against  the  substitution  of  a  monarchy  for  a 
republic.  Japan,  as  a  member  of  the  group  that  was  at- 
tempting to  crush  Germany,  was  evidently  not  to  be  put 
under  constraint  by  her  companions  in  arms.  Her  position 
was  stiU  further  strengthened  by  an  agreement  with  Russia 
published  in  July,  1916.  The  two  powers  had  been  drawing 
together  ever  since  the  treaty  of  Portsmouth,  and  Japan 
had  been  aiding  Russia  in  her  struggle  with  Germany  by 
shipments  of  supplies  across  Siberia.  Each  government  now 
agreed  not  to  enter  into  any  alliance  or  arrangement  with  a 
third  power  directed  against  the  other,  and  both  promised 
that  in  case  the  Far  Eastern  territorial  rights  or  special 
privilege  of  either  were  menaced  they  would  "consult  with 
each  other  regarding  the  measures  to  be  taken  for  the 
purpose  of  protecting  and  guarding  the  said  rights  and 
privileges."  Although  not  a  formal  alliance,  it  was  an 
agreement  for  Joint  action.  This  agreement  and  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  alliance  insured  as  much  as  solemn  international 
promises  are  capable  of  doing  the  friendship  and  support 
of  the  two  European  powers  most  influential  in  the  Far  East. 

CmNO-JAPANESE  RELATIONS  IN   1917 

In  the  summer  of  191 7  more  light  was  thrown  on  Japan's 
special  position  in  China  by  incidents  arising  from  inter- 
nal troubles  in  the  republic.  Yuan  Shih  K'ai  had  died  in 
1916  after  a  vain  attempt  to  make  himself  emperor.  The 
republican  government  that  he  had  restored  in  the  last  few 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  197 

weeks  of  his  life  was  left  in  the  control  of  two  discordant 
factions,  a  conservative  group,  chiefly  military,  with  its 
stronghold  in  the  north,  and  a  radical  group,  chiefly  from 
the  south.  Early  in  191 7,  the  first  was  in  control  of  the 
cabinet,  and  the  second  of  parliament.  Over  both  the 
president,  Li  Yuan  Hung,  was  trying  to  preside  and  insure 
harmony.  In  the  spring  of  191 7  the  government  received  a 
copy  of  the  note  sent  by  the  United  States  asking  that  all 
neutral  powers  join  her  in  her  break  with  Germany.  This, 
followed  by  the  outbreak  of  war  between  America  and 
Germany,  precipitated  a  heated  discussion  as  to  whether 
China  should  join  the  entente  powers.  So  bitter  did  the 
discussion  become  that  the  president  was  constrained  to 
dismiss  the  premier,  and  then  the  parliament,  and  civil 
war  seemed  about  to  follow.  The  United  States  now  dis- 
patched a  note  to  Peking,  advising  China  that  it  was  more 
important  for  the  welfare  of  the  world  that  she  preserve 
internal  peace  than  that  she  join  in  the  war.  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Japan  were  apparently  asked  to  second  the 
note.  Although  the  texts  of  the  documents  were  not  made 
public,  Japan  apparently  protested  to  the  United  States 
that  because  of  the  former's  special  interests  in  China, 
Tokyo  should  have  been  communicated  with  before  the 
note  was  sent  to  Peking.  This  was  tantamount  to  asserting 
Japan's  supervision  of  China's  foreign  affairs,  and  Great 
Britain  and  France  by  declining  to  second  the  American 
note,  seemed  tacitly  to  agree  to  Japan's  position.  The 
incident  at  first  seemed  trivial,  but  it  was  highly  significant. 
The  spectacular  transient  revival  of  the  Manchu  empire  by 
Chang  Hsun,  followed  by  the  restoration  of  the  republic  by 
the  military  party  and  the  declaration  of  war  on  Germany, 
seemed  to  many  in  Japan  to  promise  further  disorder  and 
to  show  the  need  for  interference. 


198  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Japan  failed  to  obtain  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the 
Chinese  in  her  program.  She  professed,  it  is  true,  to  have 
no  desire  to  annex  any  of  their  territory,  but  rather  to  aid 
them  in  reorganizing,  and  reaching  a  position  where  they 
could  defend  their  independence.  She  professed  to  favor  a 
close  alliance  between  the  two  nations  to  the  mutual 
advantage  of  both;  Japan  to  protect  China  during  her 
years  of  weakness  against  the  aggressions  of  Western  powers 
and  to  aid  in  her  political  and  military  reconstruction  and 
her  economic  development,  and  China  to  provide  Japan 
with  a  market  and  a  source  of  raw  materials.  The  Japanese 
pointed  out  that  the  two  nations  were  closely  related  in 
blood  and  in  culture  and  that  it  would  be  to  the  advantage 
of  both  if  they  acted  together.  For  the  time,  they  said, 
Japan  would  need  to  lead,  even  in  China's  internal  affairs, 
but  she  could  not  hope  to  annex  her  huge  neighbor  and 
eventually  the  latter  would  be  able  to  stand  on  her  own 
feet.  Unfortunately  for  the  realization  of  this  hope,  neither 
people  could  heartily  or  harmoniously  cooperate  with  the 
other.  The  Chinese  had,  until  a  little  over  half  a  century 
before,  regarded  Japan  as  an  inferior  state,  one  which  had 
borrowed  from  them  all  the  culture  that  separated  her  from 
barbarism.  They  could  not  quickly  forget  the  earlier  re- 
lationship and  chafed  with  helpless  rage  under  Japan's 
assumptions  and  aggressions.  While  the  great  growth  of 
Japanese  commerce  on  the  continent  was  possible  only 
because  the  Chinese  traded  with  them,  the  latter  despised 
and  feared  their  island  neighbors  even  while  they  bought 
from  them,  and  contrasted  scornfully  the  cheap  and  conse- 
quently flimsy  articles  sold  them  by  Japan  with  the  corre- 
sponding more  expensive  and  substantial  European  prod- 
ucts. The  Japanese,  moreover,  were  not  in  a  frame  of  mind 
that  would  enable  them  easily  to  placate  Chinese  resent- 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  199 

ment.  Their  successes  during  the  past  few  decades  and 
their  traditional  national  pride  had  not  promoted  a  humble 
or  conciliatory  spirit.  In  spite  of  the  many  things  that  the 
two  peoples  had  in  common,  and  their  many  points  of  con- 
tact, it  is  doubtful  whether  they  really  understood  each 
other.  Their  histories  and  ideals,  had,  after  all,  been  very 
different.  Even  the  best  of  the  Japanese  felt  a  certain  con- 
tempt for  their  neighbors.  It  was  true  that  the  Chinese 
were  successful  merchants  and  that  in  ages  past  their  culture 
had  been  dominant  in  the  Far  East;  but  had  they  not  been 
unable  quickly  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  new  age,  and 
were  they  not  proving  themselves  incompetent  to  organize 
a  government  that  could  maintain  its  independence?  As 
the  Japanese  had  annexed  Korea  to  prevent  its  absorption 
by  Russia,  so,  they  thought,  they  might  need  to  supervise 
China  to  prevent  Western  powers  from  doing  so  and  slam- 
ming to  the  door  of  economic  opportunity.  Many  Japanese 
felt  that  Manchuria  more  properly  belonged  to  them  than  to 
China.  It  had  never,  they  claimed,  been  an  integral  part  of 
China  proper  but  had  been  held  merely  as  a  dependency  until 
fear  of  foreign  aggression  led  to  its  incorporation  into  the 
provincial  system.  The  Chinese  had  not  shed  their  blood 
nor  spent  their  treasure  for  it  as  had  the  Japanese.  In  the 
hght  of  these  sentiments,  friction  between  the  two  peoples 
was  inevitable.  Under  a  new  ministry  ^  Japan  in  the  latter 
part  of  1916  began  to  adopt  a  more  conciliatory  attitude  in 
an  attempt  to  allay  Chinese  suspicions  and  promote  har- 
monious cooperation,  but,  while  she  met  with  some  success, 
her  motives  were  still  suspected  by  the  mass  of  the  Chinese 
nation.  Whether  or  not  the  two  peoples  could  get  along 
peaceably  together,  it  was  evident  that  China  would  for  years 
to  come  be  the  dominant  factor  in  Japan's  foreign  policy. 
^  Under  Terauchi. 


200  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

The  collapse  of  Russia  in  191 7  and  19 18  brought  with  it 
developments  the  outcome  of  which  cannot,  in  the  spring 
of  1918,  be  accurately  predicted.  Japan's  intervention  in 
Vladivostok  has  the  consent  of  her  European  aUies,  at 
least  outwardly,  and  that  in  spite  of  the  reluctance  of 
the  United  States  to  see  any  action  taken  by  the  entente 
powers  which  may  seem  to  smack  of  territorial  aggres- 
sion or  serve  to  alienate  the  Russian  people.  Japan 
professes  to  entertain  no  purpose  of  permanent  occupa- 
tion, but  the  future  of  Russia  is  so  fraught  with  imcer- 
tainty,  and  some  of  the  territories  concerned  are  so  rich 
in  minerals,  particularly  in  coal  and  iron,  that  sceptical 
observers  may  well  be  pardoned  if  at  times  they  doubt 
whether,  if  Japan  once  really  occupies  the  region,  she  will 
find  withdrawal  convenient  or  possible. 

RELATIONS     BETWEEN    THE     UNITED     STATES    AND    JAPAN, 

1894-1917 

During  the  years  since  1894  Japan's  relations  with  the 
United  States  had  been  undergoing  a  change.  From  the 
time  of  the  Perry  expedition  the  two  countries  had  had  for 
many  years  the  most  cordial  attitude  toward  each  other. 
The  United  States  had  never  been  suspected  of  territorial 
ambitions  in  the  Far  East.  She  had  repeatedly  by  acts  of 
generosity  demonstrated  the  cordiality  of  her  friendship  for 
her  trans-Pacific  neighbor.  She  looked  with  a  kind  of  elder- 
brotherly  pride  upon  the  rapid  development  of  a  nation  that 
she  had  come  to  regard  as  a  protege,  and  saw  in  it  no  menace 
to  her  own  safety.  The  two  nations  cooperated  in  seeking 
to  maintain  the  open  door  in  Manchuria  after  the  Boxer 
uprising.  In  the  war  with  Russia  American  sympathies 
were  all  with  the  Japanese  and  New  York  bankers  loaned  a 


4 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  201 

large  proportion  of  the  funds  needed  for  the  struggle.  In 
return  Japan  looked  upon  America  as  the  one  great  Western 
power  from  whom  she  had  nothing  to  fear  and  was  moved  by 
gratitude  for  the  evidences  of  disinterested  friendship  that 
had  been  shown  her.  any  Japanese  students  found  their 
way  to  American  universities  and  took  back  with  them  a 
hearty  admiration  for  the  country  where  they  had  spent 
their  college  days.  The  United  States,  moreover,  had  pro- 
vided Japan  a  market  for  tea  and  raw  silk,  especially  the 
latter,  and  was  her  best  customer,  better  even  than  China. 
In  return  Japan  bought  from  the  United  States  large 
quantities  of  raw  cotton,  manufactures,  machinery,  iron, 
and  steel. 

By  the  close  of  1905,  however,  friction  between  the  two 
countries  began  to  develop.  A  small  and  uninfluential 
portion  of  the  Japanese  public  was  temporarily  inclined  to 
regard  the  United  States  as  partly  responsible  for  the  terms 
of  the  intensely  unpopular  treaty  of  Portsmouth.  This 
slight  resentment  would  quickly  have  died  out  had  there  not 
soon  been  added  other  causes  for  trouble.  The  first  of 
these  was  the  immigration  question.  The  Pacific  Coast 
states  of  America  were  poorly  supplied  with  the  cheap  labor 
needed  for  their  development.  Chinese  coolies  had  been 
excluded  by  law  and  the  newer  European  immigration  did 
not  quickly  find  its  way  across  the  continent. '^  Unskilled 
Japanese  workmen,  then,  found  an  open  field  for  their 
services,  at  wages  far  in  excess  of  what  they  could  hope  for 
at  home.  Numbers  came  to  the  Pacific  Coast  and  especially 
to  California  and  were  accompanied  or  followed  by  a  few 
merchants  and  professional  men.  Immigration  was  swelled 
by  the  annexation  of  Hawaii.  Tens  of  thousands  of  Japa- 
nese had  come  to  the  islands  during  the  years  of  independ- 
ence to  work  on  the  plantations,  and  still  form  the  largest 


202  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

single  racial  element  of  the  very  heterogeneous  population 
of  that  territory.  After  1898  they  began  to  go  to  the  con- 
tinent. This  influx  of  cheap  Asiatic  labor  alarmed  the 
people  of  the  coast  states,  especially  the  labor  unions. 
The  Japanese,  it  was  felt,  could  not  be  assimilated  easily 
if  at  all.  Their  home  country  was  known  to  be  crowded 
by  a  rapidly  growing  population,  and  it  was  feared  that 
unless  their  immigration  were  stopped,  they  would  soon 
form  a  large  un-American  group  on  the  thinly  settled 
Pacific  Coast.  White  laborers  would  be  unable  or  unwilling 
to  compete  with  a  race  whose  standards  of  living  were 
traditionally  so  much  lower  than  their  own  and  would 
either  become  poverty-stricken  or  withdraw;  the  coast 
states  would  be  fiUed  with  an  ever  increasing  Oriental 
population  and  might  in  time  become  a  Japanese  rather 
than  an  American  community.  These  fears  were  to  some 
extent  justified,  but  they  were  largely  unfounded,  for  the 
Japanese  proved  to  be  more  assimilable  than  the  Chinese, 
more  eager  to  learn  the  language  and  to  adopt  the  ways 
and  standards  of  living  of  their  adopted  country,  and  in 
efficiency  and  enterprise  they  were  on  the  whole  the  equals 
if  not  the  superiors  of  the  immigrants  from  South  Europe. 
Some  of  the  student  class  who  have  remained  in  America 
have  risen  to  the  highest  ranks  in  medicine  and  teaching, 
and  there  have  been  those  among  their  merchants  who 
have  become  honored,  prosperous  members  of  American 
communities.  But  for  prejudice  there  would  have  been 
little  more  difficulty  in  absorbing  a  reasonable  number  of 
them  than  a  somewhat  similar  number  of  Greeks  or  Itahans. 
Unfortimately,  native  Americans  felt  a  strong  race  prej- 
udice. False  or  exaggerated  reports  were  circulated  which 
gave  the  American  communities  the  quite  erroneous  im- 
pression that  the  Japanese  were  grossly  immoral  and  dis- 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  203 

honest  and  were  spies  for  their  government.  With  such 
a  prejudice,  friction  was  inevitable,  intermarriage  was 
frowned  upon,  and  assimilation  made  difficult.  As  early 
as  1900  there  had  been  some  trouble,  and  the  Tokyo  gov- 
ernment, to  avoid  friction,  had  passed  restrictions  on 
emigration  to  the  United  States.  In  1903  a  labor  con- 
vention in  Chicago  appointed  a  commission  to  study 
the  question  and  the  report  was  opposed  to  Japanese 
immigration.  In  1905  a  league  to  exclude  Japanese  and 
Koreans  was  organized  in  San  Francisco,  and  in  1906  the 
question  came  to  a  head  when  the  San  Francisco  school 
officials  attempted  to  segregate  the  Japanese  from  the 
American  pupils.  Through  President  Roosevelt's  inter- 
vention the  local  authorities  agreed  to  drop  the  matter, 
but  only  on  the  condition  that  the  federal  government 
would  undertake  to  put  a  stop  to  further  immigration  of 
Japanese  from  Hawaii,  Mexico,  and  Canada,  Congress 
in  1907  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  president  to  prevent 
a  further  influx  of  the  unpopular  race.  The  president  then 
by  proclamation  prohibited  the  movement  from  Hawaii, 
Mexico,  and  Canada,  an  act  which,  in  light  of  existing 
treaties,  was  of  doubtful  constitutionality.  He  also  entered 
into  negotiations  with  Tokyo  which  led  to  the  so-called 
"gentlemen's  agreement"  by  which  Japan  agreed  to  pre- 
vent any  of  her  laboring  class  from  coming  to  America. 

In  1913  friction  again  arose  over  legislation  in  CaUfor- 
nia,  when,  in  spite  of  President  Wilson's  representations 
through  Secretary  of  State  Bryan,  a  bill  was  passed  which 
in  effect  and  purpose,  although  not  by  name,  forbade 
Japanese  to  hold  agricvdtural  land  in  the  state  except  on  a 
short  term  lease.  Similar  legislation  was  talked  of  in 
Oregon  and  Idaho  in  191 7  and  was  withdrawn  only  on  re- 
quests from  Washington.     Naturalization  has  not  been 


204  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

allowed,  and  only  American-bom  Japanese  have  or  can 
acquire  the  rights  of  citizenship.  The  question  of  anti- 
Japanese  clauses  in  the  national  immigration  laws  has  been 
seriously  debated  in  Congress.  The  Japanese  people  have 
been  deeply  offended  by  this  American  legislation,  partly 
because  of  the  scant  respect  for  their  feelings  that  has  been 
shown  in  discussing  and  enacting  it,  and  partly  because  it 
seems  to  them  unwarranted  discrimination.  It  is  certainly 
unnecessary;  the  number  of  Japanese  that  can  come  to  the 
United  States  and  hold  land  there  is,  relatively  speaking,  un- 
important so  long  as  Tokyo  adheres,  as  it  has  so  far  scru- 
pulously done,  to  the  "gentlemen's  agreement":  in  1905 
there  were  probably  less  than  100,000  in  the  United  States 
proper.  It  is  discriminatory,  for  it  seems  to  violate  treaty 
obligations  which  guarantee  Japan  all  the  rights  granted  to 
other  powers  and  it  appears  to  rank  the  Japanese  with  the 
inferior  peoples  of  the  earth.  This  is  doubly  offensive  to  a 
nation  as  keenly  sensitive  and  intensely  patriotic  as  the 
Japanese.  The  American  legislation  has  seemed,  too,  to 
be  a  phase  of  a  general  policy  of  the  white  race  to  exclude 
all  other  peoples  from  the  best  of  the  unoccupied  sections 
of  the  earth,  while  refusing  these  others  the  privilege  of 
shutting  out  the  white  man  from  their  own  lands.  British 
Columbia  and  Australia,  for  example,  have  shown  nearly 
as  great  irritation  over  Japanese  immigration  as  has  Cali- 
fornia, and  that  in  spite  of  the  existence  of  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  Alliance.  There  has  seemed  to  be  no  immediate 
possibility  of  a  war  arising  over  the  question,  for  Japan 
is  too  greatly  interested  in  China  to  risk  losing  her  ad- 
vantage there  by  engaging  in  hostilities  elsewhere.  A  ma- 
jority of  the  American  thinking  public,  moreover,  has 
deplored  the  anti- Japanese  agitation  and  has  objected  to 
having  the  peace  of  the  nation  jeopardized  by  the  hysterical 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  205 

fears  of  three  or  four  states.  The  admission  of  Japanese 
to  the  United  States  and  their  status  when  admitted,  are, 
however,  questions  which  will  evidently  arise  again  and  if 
America  continues  to  prove  discourteous  they  may  com- 
bine with  other  causes  to  bring  war. 

Another  source  of  friction  between  Japan  and  the  United 
States  has  been  the  pohcy  of  the  two  powers  in  the  Far 
East.  In  1898  America  took  the  Philippines  and  in  the 
same  year  annexed  Hawaii.  This,  from  the  American 
standpoint,  was  the  unavoidable  result  of  the  force  of 
circumstances.  From  the  Japanese  standpoint  it  was 
ominous  of  designs  on  China.  Shortly  afterward,  as  if  to 
confirm  Japan's  worst  suspicions,  the  United  States  began 
to  champion  the  principle  of  the  open  door  in  China,  a 
principle  which  after  1905  threatened  the  special  interests 
acquired  by  Japan  in  Manchuria  through  the  treaty  of 
Portsmouth.  ^  After  the  Russo-Japanese  war,  it  will  be 
remembered,  Harriman  o£fered  to  buy  the  South  Man- 
churian  railways  from  Tokyo,  and  when  this  was  refused, 
tried  to  get  hold  of  the  Russian  lines  in  North  Manchuria. 
American  capitalists  attempted  to  get  from  China  conces- 
sions for  a  railway  which  would  have  competed  with  the 
Japanese  roads  in  Manchuria,  and  were  prevented  only  by 
the  opposition  of  Tokyo.  Still  later  came  the  Knox  pro- 
posal to  purchase  and  operate  these  same  Japanese  Man- 
churian  roads  by  an  international  syndicate.  This  from 
the  standpoint  of  Americans  was  designed  merely  to  pre- 
serve the  open  door  and  Chinese  independence,  but  to 
Japan  it  might  well  have  seemed  to  be  actuated  by  purely 
selfish  motives  and  to  threaten  the  fruits  of  her  dearly  won 
victories.  Still  later  Americans  began  to  invest  capital 
in  China.  American  bankers  joined  in  the  six-power  loan 
to  China  until  discouraged  by  President  Wilson.     The 


2o6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Standard  Oil  Company  obtained  a  partial  monopoly  on 
the  oil  fields  of  China,  although  that  was  later  surrendered, 
and  an  American  company  entered  into  negotiations  to 
build  great  docks  in  Fuhkien  province,  opposite  the  Japa- 
nese-owned Formosa.  In  1 916  other  American  capitalists 
proposed  a  loan  for  railway  construction  that  competed 
with  Japanese  interests  in  Shantung.  It  was  due  largely  to 
pressure  from  the  United  States  that  China  in  191 7  broke 
with  Germany.  All  of  this  seemed  very  reasonable  and 
just  to  the  average  citizen  of  the  United  States,  if  he  stopped 
to  think  about  it  at  all.  He  was  innocent  of  any  imperiaHs- 
tic  intentions  in  Asia  and  wanted  only  an  open  door  of 
equal  opportunity.  To  some  Japanese  minds,  however, 
there  was  a  sinister  aspect  to  this  American  westward  ex- 
pansion. In  the  course  of  a  himdred  years  or  so  the  United 
States  had  jimiped  the  Mississippi  River,  crossed  the 
Rockies,  occupied  the  Pacific  slope,  and  since  Japan's 
war  with  China  had  spanned  the  Pacific,  occupying  Hawaii 
and  the  Philippines,  and  was  seeking  investments  in  Chinese 
mines  and  railways.  What  might  she  not  do  next?  What 
wonder  that  many  Japanese,  misunderstanding  the  spirit 
of  the  American  people,  should  be  irritated  by  their  open 
door  policy  and  regard  it  as  a  hypocritical  cloak  for  selfish 
designs?  What  wonder  that  they  should  think  of  America 
as  a  menace  and  even  if  they  could  be  persuaded  that  for 
the  present  she  had  no  selfish  motives,  should  believe  that 
commercial  expansion  and  the  investment  of  capital  in 
China  might  lead  her  later  to  challenge  Japan's  special 
interests  in  that  land?  Many  of  them  might  feel,  too, 
that  the  open  door,  splendid  in  theory,  could  not  be  left 
safely  to  the  protection  of  Occidental  powers.  All  of 
Japan's  experience  had  been  to  the  contrary.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  an  effective  league  of  nations,  the  Japanese  might 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  207 

well  feel  that  until  China  should  be  able  to  take  care  of 
herself,  her  integrity  could  be  made  certain  only  by  the 
assistance  of  some  one  strong  power.  Japan  planned, 
without  doubt,  to  maintain  in  China  her  "special  interests," 
her  semi-protectorate  over  that  nation,  and  there  seemed 
to  be  no  question  but  that  if  the  United  States  were  to 
undertake  an  aggressive  policy  there  that  would  se- 
riously jeopardize  the  position  of  Japan,  the  latter  would 
fight,  unless  prevented  by  the  alignment  of  European 
powers. 

Many  Americans  were  suspicious  of  Japan's  designs  in 
the  Far  East  and  the  Pacific.  They  feared  that  she  was 
only  waiting  her  opportunity  to  seize  the  Philippines  and 
Hawaii  and  even  portions  of  the  American  Continent.  They 
pointed  to  the  large  Japanese  elements  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  as  a  source  of  danger,  and  gave  credence  to  baseless 
rimiors  of  Japanese  poKtical  designs  on  Mexico,  and  Central 
and  South  America.  They  viewed  with  alarm  the  growth  of 
Japanese  shipping  on  the  Pacific:  it  was  rapidly  increasing 
while  American  shipping  on  the  same  waters  was  declining. 
They  lost  no  opportunity  to  magnify  the  Japanese  in- 
fluence and  designs  in  China.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  few 
chauvinists  in  Japan  probably  hoped  that  the  opportunity 
would  sometime  come  to  obtain  possession  of  the  Philippines 
and  Hawaii,  and  in  case  of  war  between  the  two  countries 
both  of  these  exposed  and  valuable  possessions  of  the 
United  States  would  certainly  be  attacked,  but  the  nation  as 
a  whole  and  its  responsible  statesmen  seem  to  have  been 
entirely  innocent  of  any  thought  of  seizing  wantonly  the 
American  Pacific  islands  or  any  section  of  the  American 
coast.  They  were  too  much  concerned  with  China  to  dis- 
sipate their  energies  elsewhere.  They  were  frankly  out  for 
as  large  a  share  of  the  Pacific  trade  as  possible,  but  they  had 


2o8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

no  serious  intention  of  attempting  to  get  it  by  any  other 
than  the  approved  means  of  peaceful  competition. 


THE  LANSING-ISHH  AGREEMENT,   NOVEMBER,    I917 

Friction  between  the  United  States  and  Japan  over 
China  was  allayed,  at  least  for  the  time,  by  an  exchange  of 
notes  which  grew  out  of  the  visit  to  America  in  the  summer 
and  autumn  of  191 7  of  a  Japanese  commission  headed  by 
Viscount  Ishii.  The  United  States  frankly  recognized  "  that 
territorial  propinquity  creates  special  relations  between 
countries  .  .  .  [and]  that  Japan  has  special  interests  in 
China,  particularly  in  that  part  to  which  her  possessions 
are  contiguous."  She  expressed  her  faith  that  Japan  would 
observe  the  open  door  and  the  territorial  integrity  and  in- 
dependence of  China.  To  this  Japan  readily  agreed,  and 
declared  with  the  United  States,  that  she  was  "opposed  to 
the  acquisition  by  any  government  of  any  special  rights  or 
privileges  that  would  afifect  the  independence  or  territorial 
integrity  of  China  or  that  would  deny  to  the  subjects  or 
citizens  of  any  country  the  fuU  enjoyment  of  equal  oppor- 
tunity in  the  commerce  and  industry  of  China."  The 
agreement  merely  recognized  existing  conditions  and  re- 
newed Japan's  previous  pledges  of  good  faith.  It  was 
greeted  with  no  great  enthusiasm  by  the  press  in  either 
America  or  Japan,  for  to  many  of  the  public  in  both  coun- 
tries it  seemed  that  each  foreign  office  had  conceded  too 
much.  The  Chinese  were  bitter  in  their  denunciation;  the 
agreement  seemed  to  them  to  be  the  desertion  of  their  last 
remaining  protector  against  the  aggressions  of  Japan,  and 
Peking  registered  a  formal  refusal  to  be  bound  by  any  con- 
ventions to  which  she  was  not  a  willing  party.  As  the 
weeks  passed,  however,  the  agreement  seemed  to  have  re- 


JAPAN  AS  A  WORLD-POWER  209 

lieved  the  tension  between  Japan  and  America.  Suspicions 
were  further  allayed  by  several  Japanese  commissions  sent 
to  the  United  States  to  insure  the  full  cooperation  of  the 
two  countries  in  the  war  against  the  Central  Powers. 


PROBABLE   FUTURE   RELATIONS    BETWEEN   JAPAN  AND 
UNITED    STATES 

There  seemed  then,  with  all  the  talk  of  war,  to  be  no 
imminent  danger  of  Japan  and  America  coming  to  an 
armed  clash.  America's  entrance  into  the  war  on  the  side  of 
the  Allies  promoted,  for  a  time  at  least,  cooperation  and  a 
better  imderstanding.  The  Japanese,  unless  wantonly  or 
thoughtlessly  insulted  by  discriminatory  legislation,  would 
fight  only  to  preserve  their  position  on  the  continent,  and 
the  American  pubUc  was  too  indifferent  to  Chinese  affairs 
and  too  reluctant  to  back  up  her  capitalists  and  merchants 
by  force  of  arms  to  go  to  war  to  protect  China  against 
Japan.  It  was  evident,  however,  that  the  two  peoples  must 
become  better  acquainted  with  each  other  if  friction  was  to 
end  and  relations  of  mutual  confidence  and  understand- 
ing to  be  restored.  K  the  irritation  and  suspicion  were 
to  continue  they  might  eventually  lead  to  an  armed  clash, 
and  war  would  probably  be  indecisive  and  disastrous  for 
both  peoples. 

For  further  reading  see:  Abbott,  Japanese  Expansion  and 
American  Policies;  Gulick,  The  American  Japanese  Problem; 
Millis,  The  Japanese  Problem  in  the  United  States;  McCormick, 
The  Menace  of  Japan;  Millard,  Our  Eastern  Qiiestion;  Kawakami, 
Asia  at  the  Door;  The  Secret  Memoirs  of  Count  Hayashi;  Brinkley, 
A  History  of  the  Japanese  People;  Hombeck,  Contemporary 
Politics  in  the  Far  East. 


CHAPTER  XII 

The  Internal  Development  of  Japan  from  the  War 
WITH  China  to  the  Present  (1894-19 17) 

The  past  several  pages  have  been  given  to  recounting 
Japan's  foreign  relations  from  the  close  of  the  Chino- 
Japanese  War.  These  from  the  standpoint  of  the  foreigner 
are  probably  the  most  interesting  feature  of  the  years 
following  1895.  ^o  study  of  the  development  of  Japan 
would,  however,  be  complete  without  a  description  of  her 
domestic  history  during  the  period. 

struggle   between   the   parties  and   the   ministry, 

I894-I9I7 

In  political  life  the  outstanding  series  of  events  was 
the  continuation  of  that  struggle  between  the  lower  house 
of  the  diet  and  the  ministry  that  had  been  begun  almost 
with  the  promulgation  of  the  constitution.  The  House  of 
Representatives  was  in  the  hands  of  parties  which  insisted 
that  the  ministry  be  responsible  to  the  diet.  This  the  group 
of  men  who  controlled  the  bureaucracy  and  had  the  ear  of 
the  emperor  would  not  seriously  consider.  They  were  for 
the  most  part  representatives  of  the  leading  southern  fiefs  of 
feudal  days  and  were  unwilling  to  grant  to  the  people  a 
larger  voice  in  the  government,  chiefly  because  of  a  genuine 
distrust  of  the  masses,  but  partly  possibly  for  selfish  reasons. 
The  Chinese  war  had  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  two 
groups,  Satsuma  and  Choshu,  who  controlled  the  army  and 


INTERNAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN  211 

navy,  and  made  them  less  than  ever  disposed  to  yield.  All 
internal  differences  had  been  dropped  in  enthusiastic  sup- 
port of  the  government  during  the  war,  but  no  sooner  had 
the  treaty  of  peace  been  signed  than  they  reappeared.  Ito, 
whose  ministry  had  carried  on  the  war,  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  Liberal  Party,  ^  and  preserved  the  existing  one  with 
the  conservatives  to  insure  the  support  of  the  legislature  for 
his  post  helium  measures.  This  combination  failed  long  to 
maintain  an  adequate  majority  in  the  lower  house,  and 
by  the  close  of  1896  Ito  had  resigned. 

It  would  merely  add  confusion  to  a  work  of  this  scope  to 
recount  in  detail  all  the  poHtical  history  of  the  next  two 
decades.  Only  the  main  events  can  be  given.  Even  these 
are  confusing,  but  they  help  to  illustrate  the  main  lines 
of  political  and  constitutional  development. 

If  there  was  not  to  be  a  deadlock  in  the  administration  it 
was  necessary  for  the  cabinet  to  have  the  support  of  a 
party,  if  possible  the  majority  party,  in  the  lower  house. 
The  cabinet  did  not,  however,  need  to  seek  the  ratification 
of  aU  of  its  measures  by  the  diet,  and  it  might  insist  on 
holding  office  when  backed  only  by  a  minority.  To  obtain 
support  ministries  too  frequently  resorted  to  the  practice 
made  notorious  in  England  by  Robert  Walpole,  and  un- 
fortunately not  unknown  in  the  Occident  since  his  time,  of 
corrupting  individual  members  of  the  diet  by  the  award  of 
office  or  by  out  and  out  bribery.  This  practice  was  made 
the  more  pernicious  by  the  inability  of  the  diet  to  enforce  its 
initiative  in  great  constructive  pieces  of  legislation  or  to  do 
more  than  block  measures  proposed  by  the  cabinet.  On 
one  side,  then,  was  the  cabinet,  usually  controlled  by  the 
ex-samurai  who  had  brought  about  the  reorganization  of 
Japan  and  of  whom  the  strongest  group  was  the  Sat-Cho 
1  The  Jiyuto. 


212  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

combination.  On  the  other  was  the  diet,  its  lower  house 
made  up  largely  of  party  men  who  were  at  outs  with  the 
government  and  who  found  their  slogan  in  the  principle  of 
the  responsibiHty  of  the  cabinet  to  the  legislature. 

After  the  fall  of  the  Ito  government  a  new  one  was 
formed  which  obtained  the  support  of  the  powerful  Progres- 
sive (Shimpoto)  Party — the  name  assumed  in  1896  by  the 
reorganized  Liberal  Conservatives — ^by  giving  its  leader, 
Okuma,  the  foreign  office.  Okuma  found  himself  blocked 
by  his  colleagues  on  the  cabinet  in  any  attempt  to  exercise  a 
decisive  influence  on  general  administration  measures  and 
resigned  (November,  1897).  Shortly  afterward  the  cabinet 
was  dissolved,  Ito  again  became  premier,  and  got  together  a 
ministry.  His  resignation  was  soon  caused  by  the  union  of 
the  two  strongest  parties  of  the  nation,  the  Progressives 
(Shimpoto),  led  by  Okiuna,  and  the  Liberals  (Jiyuto),  led 
by  Itagaki,  in  a  new  party,  the  Constitutionalists  (Ken- 
seito).  To  the  amazement  of  the  nation  the  emperor,  acting 
on  the  recommendation  of  Ito,  asked  Okuma  and  Itagaki  to 
form  a  cabinet.  It  looked  as  though  the  principle  of  minis- 
terial responsibility  to  the  diet  had  at  last  been  conceded. 
But  alas  for  such  hopes!  The  divergent  elements  in  the 
new  party  could  not  be  perfectly  welded,  internal  friction 
developed,  the  cabinet  resigned,  and  the  Constitutionalists 
split  into  their  former  elements.  The  Itagaki  group  re- 
tained the  fusion  name,  and  the  Okuma  group  for  a  time 
assumed  a  modified  name  but  eventually  readopted  its 
former  title  of  Progressive  (Shimpotp).  A  Sat-Cho  minis- 
try *  in  spite  of  an  alliance  withyme  powerful  Constitu- 
tionalist rump  failed  to  last  long./lto  surprised  the  nation 
by  accepting  the  leadership  of  The  Constitutionist  party 
(1900).  He  reorganized  it,  renamed  it,^  and  on  the  downfall 
*  Under  Yamagata.  "  The  Rikken  Seijoikai  or  Seiyiikai. 


INTERNAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN  213 

of  the  Sat-Cho  cabinet  came  into  office  again  as  premier. 
It  looked  as  though  the  man  chiefly  responsible  for  the 
constitution  and  the  independence  of  the  administration  of 
the  legislature  had  conceded  the  principle  of  party  govern- 
ment. Had  he  not  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  what  had 
once  been  the  Liberal  Party,  the  champion  of  ministerial 
responsibility?  However,  the  party,  not  Ito,  had  changed 
its  convictions.  The  latter  still  held  to  the  complete  de- 
pendence of  the  cabinet  officers  upon  the  will  of  the  sover- 
ereign,  and  by  his  maneuver  hoped  to  prevent  a  deadlock 
between  the  executive  and  the  legislature  by  winning  party 
support.  His  attempt  to  insure  harmony  failed  and  his 
cabinet  lasted  less  than  a  year.  Ito,  although  an  ex- 
samurai  of  Choshu,  had  been  at  outs  with  the  military  Sat- 
Cho  group,  and  national  politics  were  now  become  chiefly  a 
three-cornered  struggle  between  the  former,  backed  by  his 
party  (the  Seiyukai),  the  militaristic  section  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  Okuma's  party.  On  the  resignation  of  the  Ito 
ministry  (1901)  the  military  group  came  back  into  power 
under  the  premiership  of  Katsura,  and  carried  the  nation 
through  the  Russian  war.  Then,  as  during  the  struggle  with 
China,  internal  dissensions  were  abandoned  in  the  face  of 
external  danger.  In  1905  the  Katsura  cabinet  resigned  and 
in  1906  the  Ito  group,  now  led  by  Saionji,  a  scion  of  the 
older  court  nobility  but  a  believer  in  party  government, 
formed  a  ministry.  There  now  followed  (1906-1913)  four 
ministries  in  which  Saionji  and  Katsura  alternated  as 
premier.  Finally,  when  Katsura  broke  with  the  dominant 
group  in  the  Sat-Cho  combination  and  formed  a  party  of  his 
own,^  the  military  group  put  in  a  ministry  imder  new 
leadership.^  Following  the  downfall  of  this  cabinet  (19 14), 
Okuma,  now  77  years  of  age,  whose  party,  the  former 
1  Rikken  Doshikai  (Unionist).  '  Yamamoto. 


214  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Progressives,  had  been  renamed  the  Nationalists  (Koku- 
minto),  came  into  power.  The  formation  of  this  ministry 
was  seemingly  a  victory  for  the  principle  of  cabinet  re- 
sponsibility for  which  Okmna  had  so  long  stood,  but  his 
victory  was  more  apparent  than  real.  In  1916,  he  was 
forced  to  give  way  to  the  Terauchi  cabinet,  representing  the 
miHtaristic  group.  These  cabinet  changes,  so  confusing  to 
the  foreigner  xmfamiliar  with  local  conditions,  largely  rep- 
resent stages  in  the  struggle  between  different  factions,  some 
of  them  in  the  bureaucracy,  some  of  them  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  diet. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  PARTY  STRUGGLE 

The  principle  of  ministerial  responsibility  to  the  diet 
has  not  been  conceded,  but  as  has  been  said,  a  compromise 
has  been  reached  and  maintained,  too  often  by  corrupt 
means,  and  in  a  kind  of  rough  way  the  cabinet  has  come  to 
represent,  more  nearly  than  some  foreigners  suspect,  the 
sentiment  of  the  nation.  Back  of  all  the  kaleidoscopic 
changes,  moreover,  has  been  a  bureaucracy  which  remains 
fairly  constant  while  ministries  come  and  go,  and  it  is 
partly  due  to  it  that  national  policies  have  shown  so  steady 
an  evolution  as  the  years  have  passed.  Unchanged  by 
shifting  currents  of  popular  opinion  has  been,  too,  that 
remarkable  group  of  men  known  as  the  genro,  or  "elder 
statesmen."  They  are  the  survivors  of  those  remarkable 
Choshu  and  Satsuma  ex-samurai  who  directed  the  trans- 
formation of  the  nation.  Sadly  depleted  by  death,  they 
still  have  the  ear  of  the  emperor  and  in  times  of  crisis  are 
called  upon  by  him  for  advice.  Popular  opinion  is  in- 
creasingly making  itself  felt  in  governmental  policies.  The 
franchise  has  been  made  more  Uberal;  the  electorate  was 


INTERNAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN  215 

nearly  doubled  between  1890  and  1902.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  constitution  that  would  make  impossible  the  grant- 
ing of  ministerial  responsibility  to  the  diet  if  in  time  that 
seemed  wise  to  the  emperor  and  his  ministers. 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  EMPEROR  MEIJI  AND  THE  ACCESSION  OF 
YOSmHITO,    191 2 

One  must  pause  long  enough  to  record  the  death  in  19 12 
of  the  emperor  Mutsuhito,  or  Meiji  as  he  is  posthumously 
and  more  correctly  known,  and  the  accession  of  Yoshihito.^ 
The  event  greatly  stirred  the  nation,  for  added  to  the  in- 
tense loyalty  accorded  the  monarch  was  the  special  senti- 
ment attached  to  the  man  who  had  held  the  throne  in  the 
years  of  the  nation's  transformation.  He  had  been  indus- 
trious, public-spirited,  broad-minded,  and  of  good  judg- 
ment, willing  to  take  the  advice  of  his  ministers.  He  did 
much  to  strengthen  and  nothing  to  weaken  the  intense 
loyalty  of  the  nation  for  the  throne.  His  successor  seems 
likely  to  follow  in  his  steps.  What  the  effect  upon  the 
state  would  be  if  a  self-assertive,  injudicious  monarch  were 
to  come  to  the  throne,  it  is  hard  to  say:  the  foundations  of 
the  constitution  might  be  shaken.  For  the  present,  how- 
ever, there  seems  to  be  no  danger  of  this. 

ECONOMIC    DEVELOPMENT    AND    PROBLEMS,     1894-1917 

The  years  that  followed  the  war  with  China  and  the  war 
with  Russia  saw  a  remarkable  development  in  the  economic 
life  of  the  nation.  In  1907  all  but  a  few  hundred  miles  of 
the  private  railways  were  purchased  by  the  government 
and  extended.    Manufactures  greatly  increased,  and  Osaka, 

^  With  his  accession  a  new  era,  Taisho  (Great  Righteousness)  began. 


2i6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

Tokyo,  and  other  cities  became  large  factory  centers,  re- 
minding the  traveller  of  the  industrialized  West.  In  manu- 
factures the  leading  place  was  held  by  textile  plants  which 
produced  cloth  and  yarn  for  home  and  foreign  consumption, 
but  there  was  also  a  great  increase  in  the  output  of  ma- 
chinery and  chemicals.  The  European  conflict  brought 
unprecedented  demands  for  war  supplies,  principally  from 
Russia,  lessened  the  competition  in  China,  and  opened  up 
new  markets  in  India.  Under  the  stimulus  the  manufac- 
turers of  the  nation  have  become  rich;  the  number  of  listed 
milUonaires  has  passed  the  five  hundred  mark.  Banks,  both 
public  and  private,  have  grown  in  accumulated  capital  and 
deposits.  Fire  and  life  insurance  companies  have  appeared 
and  prospered.  Originally,  many  industries  were  imder- 
taken  imder  governmental  initiative,  but  as  the  years  have 
passed  and  the  nation  has  become  adjusted  to  the  new 
methods,  oJEcial  participation  has  been  confined  chiefly  to  a 
few  state  monopolies,  a  protective  tariff,  research  labora- 
tories, and  government-aided  industrial  banks.  Scientific 
forestry  has  been  encouraged,  to  develop  and  conserve  the 
great  timbered  areas  of  the  islands,  more  than  half  of  which 
are  in  the  possession  of  the  state  and  the  crown.  Fisheries, 
one  of  the  great  sources  of  the  nation's  food,  have  been 
subsidized.  Agricultural  schools  and  experiment  stations 
aid  the  farmer  in  his  struggle  to  provide  the  growing  popula- 
tion with  food-stuffs.  Partly  as  a  result,  the  yield  of  grain 
per  acre  has  increased  from  a  tenth  to  a  half.  Agricultural 
banks  fostered  by  the  government  provide  the  farmer  with 
money  on  long-term  loans  at  a  low  interest  rate.  The 
reclamation  of  waste  lands  and  the  clearing  of  new  lands, 
especially  in  Yezo,  are  encouraged.  In  spite  of  its  grow- 
ing population  the  nation  still  produces  nearly  all  of  its 
own  food.    The  majority  of  the  farms  are  cultivated  by 


INTERNAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN  217 

their  owners  and  the  nation  has  a  sturdy,  independent, 
peasant  class.  Mining  has  developed.  The  copper  ores 
for  which  Japan  was  famous  in  feudal  days  have  continued 
to  yield  large  and  increasing  quantities  of  the  metal  for 
export.  Zinc  and  sulphur  have  been  produced  in  amounts 
more  than  suflScient  for  home  consumption.  Iron  does  not 
exist  in  any  quantity,  Japan's  supply  of  that  metal  com- 
ing principally  from  the  continent  and  America,  but  coal 
is  found  in  fairly  extensive  deposits  and  is  mined  both  for 
home  consmnption  and  for  export.  The  growth  in  the 
mercantile  marine  has  been  spectacular.  The  gross  ton- 
nage leaped  from  15,000  in  1893  ^^  1,522,000  at  the  end  of 
1905:  by  March,  19 14,  it  had  passed  the  two  million  mark, 
and  since  the  war  began  with  its  stimulus  to  ship-building, 
the  figures  have  still  further  increased.  Generous  govern- 
ment bounties  and  subsidies  have  stimulated  the  construc- 
tion of  ships  and  have  encouraged  the  extension  of  lines  to 
China  and  on  the  waters  of  the  Yangtze  and  its  tribu- 
taries, and  to  North  and  South  America,  Australia,  and 
Europe.  Splendidly  organized  financial  and  commercial 
houses  have  established  branches  in  the  leading  business 
centers  of  the  world.  It  is  of  interest  to  notice  that  the 
largest  of  these  houses,  such  as  Mitsui  and  Company,  are 
undertaking  a  wide  variety  of  enterprises.  They  manufac- 
ture, engage  in  shipping  and  in  commerce,  and  show  much 
the  same  tendency  toward  centralization  in  finance  and 
industry  as  does  the  government  in  politics.  The  nation 
has  ceased  to  be  exclusively  agricultural  and  is  making 
giant  strides  toward  the  leadership  that  it  aspires  to  hold 
in  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  life  of  the  Far  East 
and  the  North  Pacific  basin.  Cities  have  grown  by  leaps 
and  bounds,  Tokyo  and  Osaka  ranking  in  population 
among  the  leading  ones  of  the  world.     They  have  as  a 


2i8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

rule  been  well  and  honestly  governed,  much  more  so  than 
many  American  cities.  Modern  water-works  and  sewage 
systems,  electric  lights  and  tramcars,  and  parks  and  play- 
grounds add  to  their  health  and  convenience. 

And  yet  the  industrialization  of  the  nation  is  not  com- 
plete. Japanese  laborers  are  not  yet,  man  for  man,  the 
equal  in  efficiency  and  skill  of  those  of  the  West.  Too 
many  factory  hands  are  women  and  children,  labor  that 
from  its  very  nature  is  more  or  less  irregular.  A  large 
amount  of  human  energy  is  still  employed  to  do  tasks  that 
in  the  West  are  performed  by  machinery.  The  iron  and 
steel  industry  is  still  in  its  infancy.  The  nation  does  not 
now,  even  after  the  vast  additions  brought  by  war  pros- 
perity, possess  sufficient  stocks  of  commercial  capital  of 
its  own  to  enable  it  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  development 
at  home  and  in  China  to  which  its  ambition  calls  it.  In 
China  the  first  place  in  foreign  trade  is  still  held  by  Great 
Britain.  Japan  is  still  staggering  under  a  heavy  load  of 
debt  acquired  in  the  process  of  development  and  through 
the  wars  and  armaments  necessitated  by  its  determination 
to  win  and  make  safe  for  itself  a  "place  in  the  sun";  and 
although  taxes  are  not  as  heavy  as  during  Tokugawa  times, 
they  are  still  extremely  high.  The  leaders  of  the  nation 
beheve,  however,  that  the  country  is  just  at  the  beginning 
of  a  long  age  of  development  that  will  free  it  from  debt  and 
make  it  the  dominant  economic,  as  it  is  now  the  dominant 
political  power,  in  the  Far  East.  The  prosperity  brought 
by  the  war  has  seemed  to  hasten  the  time  when  that  dream 
will  be  realized. 

EDUCATIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND   PROBLEMS,    1894-1917 

The  growth  of  schools  and  the  spread  of  the  new  learning 
have  been  steady.    The  system  of  pubUc  education  had 


INTERNAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN  219 

been  sketched  out  and  inaugurated  long  before  the  war  with 
China.  The  outlines  have  been  filled  in  since  then,  how- 
ever, and  new  features  have  been  added.  The  elementary 
school  course,  attendance  at  which  is  compulsory,  has  been 
lengthened  from  four  years  to  six,  and  the  percentage  of 
children  who  are  not  receiving  the  prescribed  instruction  has 
declined  to  less  than  two.  The  number  of  institutions  of 
learning  of  practically  all  classes  has  increased  and  the 
universities  are  producing  scholars  who  are  beginning  to 
make  valuable  contributions  to  the  world's  stock  of  knowl- 
edge. Especially  noteworthy  has  been  the  popularity  of 
technical  education.  Secondary  and  higher  education  for 
women,  while  not  yet  provided  for  as  fully  as  in  many  pro- 
gressive countries  of  the  West,  has  displayed  a  rapid 
growth.  Uniform  textbooks  for  the  empire  have  been 
adopted,  teachers  are  carefully  trained,  and  an  earnest 
effort  has  been  made  to  raise  and  keep  the  standards  of 
efficiency  and  scholarship  up  to  the  highest  of  the  age. 
Japan,  especially  Tokyo,  is  the  educational  center  of  the 
Far  East.  Chinese  students  have  come  by  the  thousands 
and  representatives  are  to  be  found  from  most  of  the  other 
principal  countries  of  Eastern  Asia. 

The  educational  system  is  not  without  its  problems  and 
defects.  The  teachers  are  too  frequently  underpaid;  funds 
needed  for  schools  have  sometimes  been  diverted  for 
armaments  and  war  expenses.  The  facilities  in  the  higher 
institutions  are  far  from  sufficient  to  accommodate  all  those 
who  apply  for  admission,  and  there  results  a  competition 
which  proves  a  fearful  and  sometimes  unbearable  strain  on 
many  of  the  nation's  best  young  men;  physical  breakdowns 
and  suicides  among  the  student  class  are  alarmingly  com- 
mon. The  curricula  are  in  places  overloaded  and  the 
courses  of  study  are  too  long.   The  Japanese  boy  is  under  a 


220  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

handicap  in  having  to  learn  the  difficult  Chinese  characters 
and  a  literary  language  whose  style  is  quite  different  from 
the  colloquial.  If  he  acquires  an  Occidental  language,  as  he 
is  compelled  to  do  in  the  higher  schools,  he  finds  it  a  more 
difficult  task  than  does  a  European,  for  it  is  not  at  aU 
cognate  to  his  own.  In  spite  of  problems  and  obstacles, 
however,  the  educational  system  is  noteworthy  and  has 
helped  remarkably  to  equip  the  nation  for  the  new  age. 

LITERATURE,    1894-1917 

Newspapers  have  grown  in  circulation  and  influence, 
especially  since  the  war  with  China.  They  are  read  by 
everyone  and  vary  from  the  staid,  semi-official  sheets  with  a 
carefully  correct  style  to  the  yellow  press  which  nourishes 
jingoism  and  talks  blatantly  of  Japan's  rights  and  ambi- 
tions and  of  a  Pan-Asia  led  by  Japan.  A  censorship  is  still 
maintained  and  together  with  a  revised  press  law,  attempts 
to  restrain  the  worst  excesses  of  unbalanced  journalism. 
Translations  of  foreign  works  have  continued  to  multiply 
and  native  books  dealing  with  modern  topics  in  an  easy 
literary  style  appear  in  ever  larger  numbers.  The  theater 
flourishes,  both  in  a  native,  a  modified  native,  and  a  foreign 
style.  Art  continues,  although  often  sadly  commercialized. 
A  few  artists  and  craftsmen  still  cling  to  the  strictly  classical 
models  of  the  past,  a  few  affect  a  purely  Western  style,  but 
the  great  majority  seek  to  combine  the  old  and  the  new,  and 
are  typical  of  the  eclecticism  of  the  new  Japan. 

MORAL,   SOCIAL,  AND  RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS 

The  moral  and  social  conditions  of  the  country  have 
distressed  many  observers,  both  native  and  foreign.  In 
these  phases  of  its  life  the  nation  has  many  characteristics  of 


INTERNAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN  221 

an  age  of  rapid  transition.  Cities  have  grown  amazingly  and 
in  spite  of  their  honest  and  efficient  administration  there 
have  come  with  them  the  social  and  moral  problems  of  their 
counterparts  in  the  West.  Labor  unions  have  appeared, 
although  their  organization  has  been  officially  discouraged, 
and  during  the  depression  that  followed  the  Russian  war 
strikes  occurred.  Socialism  has  found  a  few  adherents,  even 
though  it  is  unpopular  with  the  mass  of  the  nation,  and  some 
of  its  manifestations  have  been  proscribed  by  the  govern- 
ment. Women  and  girls  are  employed  in  the  factories. 
Too  frequently  they  are  exploited  by  pitiless  or  careless 
mill-owners  and  are  compelled  to  work  on  excessively  long 
shifts  for  hopelessly  inadequate  wages  and  to  live  in  sur- 
roundings that  are  a  disgrace  to  the  nation.  The  social  evil 
has  long  been  present  and  as  in  the  West  it  has  been  alarm- 
ingly aggravated  under  the  shifting  standards  of  modern 
Hfe.  Commercial  morality,  while  it  has  risen  and  was 
probably  never  at  as  low  an  ebb  as  is  currently  believed  by 
the  West,  is  by  no  means  ideal.  There  is  political  corrup- 
tion, although  it  is  not  nearly  as  aggravated  or  widespread  as 
it  has  been  at  times  in  America.  There  is,  too,  a  spirit  of 
jingoism  and  chauvinism  abroad  in  the  land  which  is  per- 
haps the  natural  outcome  of  Japan's  rapid  rise  to  the  posi- 
tion of  a  first-class  power,  combined  with  her  intense 
patriotism,  but  which  is  no  less  dangerous  and  unpleasant 
for  her  neighbors.  Some  enthusiasts  believe  their  nation's 
culture  to  be  the  best  in  the  world  and  speak  glibly  of  the 
duty  of  spreading  it.  They  are  not,  one  is  glad  to  say, 
representative  of  the  best  in  the  nation.  With  the  coming 
of  modern  science  and  Occidental  philosophy  the  traditional 
religious  convictions  and  with  them  the  moral  standards  of 
many  have  been  shattered.  Shinto  has  never  been  strong 
on  its  ethical  side.    Buddhism  has  shown  signs  of  renewed 


222  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

activity  and  adaptability  under  the  stimulus  of  danger.  It 
has  some  highly  educated  men  among  its  leaders  and  has 
organized  Young  Men's  Buddhist  Associations  and  schools 
for  religious  instruction  on  the  models  of  the  approved  meth- 
ods of  the  Christian  church.  In  spite  of  these  efforts,  how- 
ever, it  has  lost  its  hold  on  numbers,  both  of  the  thoughtful 
and  the  unthoughtful.  The  formal  instruction  in  ethics  in 
the  public  schools,  even  when  reenf  orced  by  patriotism,  does 
not  adequately  supply  that  emotional  element  which  is  so 
inseparable  from  robust  morals.  While  Christianity  has 
partially  recovered  from  its  unpopularity  of  the  nineties, 
and  has  an  influence  out  of  proportion  to  its  numerical 
strength,  it  has  never  been  able  completely  to  dispel  the 
impression  that  it  is  unpatriotic,  an  impression  which  is 
perhaps  partly  the  fruit  of  the  propagandism  of  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries,  partly  of  the  international 
spirit  of  Christianity,  a  contrast  to  the  intense  and  rather  nar- 
row patriotism  of  Japan,  and  partly  of  its  Occidental  dress. 
There  is,  however,  cause  for  encouragement.  In  some 
factories  the  owners  are  undertaking  to  improve  the  living 
and  working  conditions  of  the  employees,  and  the  diet 
passed  a  national  factory  act  in  191 1.  Abuses  have  been 
prevalent  in  Japan,  as  in  every  country  in  the  initial  stages 
of  the  industrial  revolution,  but  thoughtful  men  are  at- 
tacking them.  In  morals,  as  in  most  phases  of  their  life,  the 
Japanese  are  their  own  severest  critics  and  many  of  their 
leading  statesmen  are  keenly  alive  to  the  disintegration 
threatened  by  the  new  age  and  are  striving  to  counteract  it. 
Conferences  of  representatives  of  the  leading  religions  of 
the  land  have  met  at  the  call  of  the  government  to  con- 
sider means  of  meeting  it,  although  one  is  sorry  to  say  that 
these  gatherings  have  been  too  formal  and  perfunctory  to 
accomplish  much.    Numerous  charitable  institutions  have 


INTERNAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN  223 

been  founded,  most  of  them  under  Christian  auspices,  to 
help  alleviate  human  suffering.  There  are  able  and  zealous 
leaders  both  in  the  Christian  and  Buddhist  churches  who 
are  striving  to  raise  the  spiritual  and  ethical  tone  of  the 
nation.  The  leading  school  authorities  have  earnestly 
grappled  with  the  problem  of  moral  education;  in  each  class- 
room, for  example,  is  posted  a  copy  of  the  imperial  rescript 
of  1890  setting  forth  and  commanding  the  observance  of 
fundamental  moral  principles,  and  the  effort  is  made 
through  the  curriculum  to  elaborate  on  these.  The  people 
are  essentially  sound  and  there  is  much  ground  for  hope 
that  the  vices  so  often  associated  with  periods  of  marked 
transition  will  not  be  fastened  so  firmly  on  the  country  as  to 
prove  its  undoing. 

SUMMARY 

The  past  few  pages  picture  but  hastily  and  inadequately 
the  changes  in  the  internal  life  of  the  nation  during  the  past 
twenty-five  years.  Enough  has  perhaps  been  said,  however, 
to  indicate  that  transition  did  not  end  with  the  promulga- 
tion of  the  constitution  or  the  war  with  China.  It  has  been 
going  on  rapidly  ever  since  and  is  still  in  progress.  Even  in 
her  cities,  Japan  has  not  fully  adjusted  herself  to  Occidental 
ways.  The  industrial  revolution  has  only  fairly  begun  and 
with  it  the  nation's  commercial  development.  Literature, 
art,  education,  and  religion  are  still  in  a  state  of  flux.  In 
these  lines  especially  the  nation  is  only  beginning  to  emerge 
from  the  stage  of  adaptation  and  assimilation  to  that  of 
constructive  achievement.  What  the  Japanese  genius  is  to 
produce  and  what  the  nation  is  to  be  and  do  when  it  com- 
pletely finishes  the  process  of  adjustment,  no  one  can  yet 
accurately  predict.  Japan  will  hardly  be  content  to  be  an 
imitator  and  there  is  much  in  her  past  history  that  leads  one 


224  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  JAPAN 

to  hope  for  new  and  valuable  contributions  to  world  culture. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  Japan's  future  is  inseparably 
bound  up  with  that  of  China.  It  is  certain,  too,  that  the 
rapid  rise  to  prominence  of  the  Far  East  during  the  past 
half  century  is  to  be  no  transient  phenomenon.  Japan  and 
China  are  for  better  or  for  worse  to  bulk  increasingly  large 
in  world  affairs  and  will  need  more  than  ever  before  to  be 
taken  into  consideration  by  Europe  and  America. 

For  further  reading  see:  Japan  Year  Book;  Kikuchi,  Japanese 
Education;  Aston,  A  Brief  History  of  Japanese  Literature; 
Reinsch,  Intellectual  and  Political  Currents  in  the  Far  East; 
Gulick,  Evolution  of  the  Japanese;  Gulick,  Working  Women  of 
Japan;  McLaren,  A  Political  History  of  Japan  During  the  Meiji 
Era;  Okuma,  Fifty  Years  of  New  Japan;  Hombeck,  Contem- 
porary Politics  in  the  Far  East;  Porter,  The  Full  Recognition  of 
Japan. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

An  exhaustive  bibliography  would  be  out  of  place  in  a  book  the 
aze  of  this.  The  attempt  has  been  made,  however,  to  give  a 
few  of  the  more  important  works  on  the  main  topics  touched  on 
in  the  preceding  pages. 

Wenckstern,  Fr.  von,  a  Bibliography  of  the  Japanese  Empire, 
2  vols.  This  contains  a  Ust  of  the  books  and  articles  on 
Japan  in  European  languages,  published  from  1859  to  1893, 
pp.  xiv,  338,  Leiden,  1895, 1894-1906.    2  vols.,  Tokyo,  1907. 

General  Books  of  Descrtption,  Travel  and  Statistics 

Chamberlain,  Basil  Hall,  Things  Japanese,  pp.  11,  408,  4th 
ed.  London,  1902.  This  is  a  standard  reference  book  and 
covers  in  alphabetical  order  the  principal  topics  and  ques- 
tions of  interest  to  the  average  student  of  Japan. 

Griffis,  Willlam  Elliott,  The  Mikado's  Empire,  12th  ed.,  2 
vols.  New  York,  1913.  This  work  first  appeared  in  1876. 
The  present  edition  contains  supplementary  chapters 
bringing  the  history  down  to  191 2.  This  work  was  long 
the  standard  popular  authority  in  English,  and  while  most 
of  it  is  now  somewhat  out  of  date  it  is  still  of  interest  and 
value. 

Hearn,  Lafcadio,  Glimpses  of  Unfamiliar  Japan,  2  vols., 
1907-10.  One  of  the  more  important  books  of  an  enthu- 
siastic admirer  and  naturalized  subject  of  Japan, 

Japan  Year  Book.    Tokyo,  1905. — ^An  annual  siunmary. 

Mitford,  E.  Bruce,  Japan's  Inheritance:  The  Country,  Its 
People,  and  their  Destiny,  pp.  383.   New  York,  1914.    A  book 
in  popular  style  by  one  who  knows  Japan  well. 
225 


226  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

NiTOBE,  Inazo,  The  Japanese  Nation,  Its  Land,  Its  People,  and 
Its  Life.  New  York,  191 2,  pp.  xiv,  334.  This  book  is  made 
up  of  popular  lectures  delivered  in  America  by  a  well  known 
Japanese  scholar. 

Porter,  Robert  P.,  The  Full  Recognition  of  Japan,  Being  a 
Detailed  Account  of  the  Economic  Progress  of  the  Japanese 
Empire  to  igii.    Oxford  University  Press,  191 1,  pp.  xii,  789^ 

Periodical  Publications 

Transactions  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan,  20  vols,  and  still 
in  process  of  publication.  The  publications  of  a  learned 
society  whose  membership  is  made  up  largely  of  foreigners. 

Art  and  Architecture 

BiNYON,  Laurence,  Painting  in  the  Far  East.  London,  1908, 
pp.  xvi,  286. 

Fenollosa,  Ernest  Francisco,  Epochs  of  Chinese  and  Jap- 
anese Art,  2  vols.  London,  191 2.  Two  sumptuous  and  val- 
uable volumes  by  a  specialist  whose  enthusiasm  is  some- 
times greater  than  his  judgment. 

Morrison,  Arthur,  The  Painters  of  Japan,  2  vols.  London  and 
Edinburgh,  191 1. 

Education 

KiKUCHi,  Baron  Dairoku,  Japanese  Education,  London.  1909, 
pp.  xvi,  397. 

Literature 

Aston,  William  George,  A  History  of  Japanese  Literature. 
New  York,  1899,  pp.  xi,  408.  A  brief  manual  by  an  author- 
ity. 

Chamberlain,  Basil  Hall,  Japanese  Poetry.  London,  1911, 
pp.  xii,  260.  This  prolific  scholar  has  also  produced  such 
other  books  as  Aino  Folktales,  Aino  Fairy  Tales  (3  vols.), 
and  Japanese  Fairy  Tales  in  English  (1907). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  227 

KojiKi  (translation  by  B.  H.  Chamberlain,  1883). 

MiTFORD,  A.  B.,  Tales  of  Old  Japan,  2  vols.  London,  1871.  In- 
teresting stories  from  Japanese  sources  illustrative  of  life 
before  the  coming  of  the  Westerner. 

NfflONGi  (translation  by  W.  G.  Aston,  2  vols.  London, 
1896). 

Reinsch,  Paul  Samuel,  Intellectual  and  Political  Currents  in 
the  Far  East.  Boston,  191 1,  pp.  viii,  396.  An  admirable 
work  with  some  important  chapters  on  modern  conditions 
in  Japan. 

Religion,  Ethics,  Ideals,  and  Family  Life 

Aston,  William  George,  Shinto,  The  Way  of  the  Gods.  London, 
1905,  pp.  390.  This  appeals  only  to  the  more  serious  stu- 
dent. 

Carey,  Otis,  A  History  of  Christianity  in  Japan,  2  vols.  New 
York,  c.  1909.  The  standard  account  of  Christian  missions 
in  Japan. 

GuLiCK,  Sidney  Lewis,  Evolution  of  the  Japanese,  5th  ed.  New 
York,  1905,  pp.  XX,  463.  A  study  of  national  character- 
istics by  an  able  Christian  missionary. 

GuLiCK,  Sidney  L.,  Working  Women  of  Japan.  New  York, 
1915,  pp.  xiv,  162. 

Hearn,  Lafcadio,  Japan,  An  Attempt  at  Interpretation.  New 
York,  1904,  pp.  V,  541.  A  brilliant  interpretation,  largely 
of  family  and  religious  life.    It  must  be  used  with  care. 

Knox,  George  William,  The  Development  of  Religion  in  Japan. 
New  York,  1907,  pp.  xxi,  204.  A  brief  series  of  lectures  by 
a  careful  student. 

Lloyd,  Arthur,  The  Creed  of  Half  Japan.  New  York,  1912, 
pp.  X,  393. 

NiTOBE,  I.  Bushido,  The  Soul  of  Japan,  loth  ed.  New  York, 
1905,  pp.  XXV,  203.  A  sympathetic,  perhaps  a  too  sym- 
pathetic, interpretation  of  Japan  for  Western  readers  by  an 
eminent  scholar. 


228  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Japanese-American  Relations 

Abbott,  James  Francis,  Japanese  Expansion  and  American 
Policies.  New  York,  1916,  pp.  viii,  267.  A  fair,  dispassion- 
ate discussion. 

GuLiCK,  Sidney  Lewis,  The  American  Japanese  Problem.  New 
York,  1914,  pp.  X,  349.    A  study  by  a  friend  of  Japan. 

Japan  and  Japanese- American  Relations.  Clark  University 
Addresses,  ed.  by  George  H.  Blakeslee.  New  York,  191 2, 
pp.  xi,  348.  A  series  of  addresses  on  various  Japanese 
topics  by  experts. 

Kawakami,  Kiyoshi  K.,  Asia  at  the  Door.  New  York,  c.  1914, 
pp.  269.  A  statement  of  the  Japanese  side  of  the  question 
by  one  who  has  long  been  a  resident  of  the  United  States. 

MiLLis,  Harry  Alvin,  The  Japanese  Problem  in  the  United 
States.  New  York,  191 5,  pp.  xxi,  334.  The  sub-title.  An 
investigation  for  the  commission  on  relations  with  Japan, 
appointed  by  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America,  indicates  the  approach  to  the  subject  from  which 
the  study  was  made.  It  is  a  thorough,  fair-minded  presenta- 
tion based  on  a  careful  examination  of  the  facts. 

McCormick,  Frederick,  The  Menace  of  Japan.  Boston,  1917, 
pp.  vi,  372.  Written  with  a  bitterly  anti- Japanese  bias  by  a 
newspaper  correspondent  who  has  long  been  conversant 
with  Far  Eastern  affairs. 

Millard,  Thomas  Franklin  Fairfax,  Our  Eastern  Question, 
Americans  Contact  with  the  Orient  and  the  Trend  of  Relations 
With  China  and  Japan.    New  York,  1916,  pp.  543. 

Nitobe,  I.,  The  Intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  Japan. 
Baltimore,  1891,  pp.  ix,  198. 

History:  Works  Covering  the  Entire  Field 

Brinkley,  F.,  Japan,  Its  History,  Arts,  and  Literature,  8  vols, 
Boston  and  Tokyo,  1901-2.  This  is  a  standard  treatment 
of  the  development  of  the  nation. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  229 

Brinkley,  F.,  a  History  of  the  Japanese  People.  New  York, 
1915,  pp.  xi,  784.  Unlike  the  last,  this  is  a  detailed  history 
confined  very  largely  to  the  political  side  of  the  nation's 
life. 

Davis,  F.  Hadland,  Japan,  From  the  Age  of  the  Gods  to  the  Fall 
of  Tsingtao.  New  York,  London,  1916.  One  of  the  best 
of  the  short  popular  accounts. 


History:  Works  Covering  Specific  Periods  or  Problems 

AsAKAWA,  Kanichi,  The  Early  Institutional  Life  of  Japan:  A 

Study  of  the  Reform  of  645  A.  D.    Tokyo,  1903,  pp.  355. 

A    careful    study    by    an     exact,    painstaking,    capable 

student. 
AsAKAWA,  Kanichi,  The  Russo-Japanese  Conflict.   Boston,  1904, 

pp.  xiv,  384. 
Hayashi,  Count  Tadasu,  The  Secret  Memoirs  of.   Ed.  by  A.  M. 

Pooley.   London,  191 5.   An  interesting  record  of  a  Japanese 

statesman  and  diplomat. 
HoRNBECK,  Stanley  K.,  Contemporary  Politics  in  the  Far  East. 

New  York,  1916,  pp.  xii,  466.    One  of  the  best  of  the  books 

covering  recent  developments. 
Longford,  Joseph  Henry,  The  Story  of  Old  Japan.    London, 

1910,  pp.  xi,  409. 

Longford,  Joseph  Henry,  The  Story  of  Korea.    New  York, 

191 1,  pp.  vii,  400. 

McLaren,  Walter  Wallace,  A  Political  History  of  Japan 
During  the  Meiji  Era,  1867-IQ12.  New  York,  1916,  pp.  379. 
A  careful  study  but  with  a  marked  bias  against  Japanese 
expansion  and  the  Japanese  oligarchy. 

Millard,  Thomas  Franklin  Fairfax,  The  New  Far  East. 
New  York,  1906,  pp.  xii,  319, 

Okuma,  Count  Shigenobu,  Fifty  Years  of  New  Japan.  English 
version,  ed.  by  M.  B.  Huish,  2  vols.,  1909.  A  record  by 
various  authors  of  Japan  since  its  transformation. 


230  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Periodicals 

Two  monthlies  especially  useful  to  the  American  reader  are: 
The  New  East,  edited  by  J.  W.  Robertson  Scott,  published  in 

Tokyo,  and  under  British  influence. 
Asia,  the  Journal  of  the  American  Asiatic  Society,  published  at 

280  Madison  Ave.,  New  York  City. 


INDEX 


Aborigines,  see  Yemishi. 
Adams,  Will,  71 

Adaptability  of  Japanese,  89,  90 
i  Agriculture,  30,  160,  216 
Aigun,  187 

Ainu,  I,  12,  14,  16,  150 
Aleutian  Islands,  107 
Amaterasu,  10,  94,  96,  97 
America,  see  United  States. 
Amida,  51,  52 
Amitahba,  see  Amida. 
Amur,  165,  170,  173 
Anatomy,  106 
Ancestor- worship,  17 
Anglo- Japanese  Alliance,    174,    178, 

191 
Annam,  70 

Arable  land  in  Japan,  6 
Araga  Bay,  108 
Architecture,  29,  163 
Army,  reorganized,  123 
Art,  8,  16 

Ashikaga  shogunate,  55-62 
Ashikaga  Takauji,  55,  56 
Augustinians,  59 
Australia,  204,  217 

B 

Bakufu,  48,  49,  67-69,  80, 104 
Banks,  126,  158,  159,  216 
Bank  of  Japan,  126,  158 
Biddle,  Commodore,  108 
Bismarck,  137 
Black  Current,  7 
Bonin  Islands,  149 


Boxer  Rebellion,  172 

British  Columbia,  204 

Bryan,  W.  J.,  203 

Buddhism,  20,  21-26,  29,  41,  44,  51, 

52,  59,  62,  72,  77,  89,  91,  94,  98- 

100,  194,  221,  222 
Buppo,  97 

Bureaucracy,  89,  124,  130,  138 
Burma,  56 
Bushi,  44 
Bushido,  44,  61,  77,  81,  89,  90,  100- 

103 


Cabinet,  138,  142,  210-214 

Calendar,  29 

California,  i,  87,  106 

Calligraphy,  92 

Canada,  87,  203 

Canton,  105,  107 

Cave  men,  12 

Ceramics,  93 

Chang-Chim,  176,  193 

Chang  Hsun,  197 

Charter  Oath,  120,  130 

China,  2,  4,  7,  16,  18-20,  23,  30,  52, 
58,  64,  83,  84,  105,  151,  153,  166- 
169 

China,  Japan  in,  189,  206-208; 
Japanese  demands  on  in  1915, 
192-199;  Japanese  war  with,  146, 
167-169;  Japanese  trade  with,  70 

Chinchow,  187 

Chinese  students  in  Japan,  6 

Chinese  written  language  adapted 
by  Japanese,  27,  28 

Chishima,  see  Kuriles. 


131 


232 


INDEX 


Cho  Densu,  see  Meicho. 

Chosen,  see  Korea. 

Choshu,  104,  III,  113, 114, 117, 127, 

13s,  169,  210 
Christianity,  22,  23,  51,  16^,  222; 

introduced  to  Japan,  59;  opposed 

by  Hideyoshi,  64;  stamped  out 

by    the    Tokugawa,    70-72;    in 

Korea,  184 
Chu  Hsi,  76 

Civil  service  examinations,  32 
Clay  images,  16 
Climate  of  Japan,  7 
Columbus,  58 
Commerce,  82,  157 
Confucianism,  69,  75,  78,  89,  100, 

120 
Confucius,  19,  20,  28,  31,  loi 
Constitution,  1 1 ;  of  Prince  Shotoku, 

31,    33;    struggle    for,    130-135; 

promulgated,  139;  provisions  of, 

139-142 
Constitutionalist  Imperialists,  136 
Constitutionalist  Party,  212 
Copper,  30,  73 
Costume,  29 
Cotton,  16,  201 
Cotton-spinning,  159 
Courts  of  law,  124 
Currency,  125 
Customs  duties,  revised,  154-156 


Daigo,  40 
Daiho,  32 
Daika  reforms,  31 
Daimyo,  80 
Dalny,  171 
Dancing,  94 
Dancing  girls,  41 
Dengyo  Daishi,  37 
Deshima,  73 


Diet,  140,  141,  143-147,  210-214 
Dishonesty,  in  business,  83;  alleged 

Japanese  trait,  158 
Dokyo,  41 
Dominicans,  59 
Doshikai,  213 
Dutch,    106-109,    "3>   trade  with 

Japan,  70,  71,  73,  74 


E 


Education,  69,  75, 160, 161,  219,  220 
Elder  Statesmen,  117,  142,  214 
Emperor,  institution  of,  17,  33,  84, 

85,  139;  imder  the  Tokugawa,  68 
England,  70,  73,  105,  106,  109,  no, 

152,  156,  171,  173,  190,  197 
English  language  in  Japan,  161 
Exterritoriality,    established,     109; 

struggle  against,  124,  149,  154- 

156;  abolished,  156 


Family,  30,  96 

Feudalism,  7;  formation  of,  41-44; 

decay  of  under  Tokugawa,    74; 

end  of,  121,  122 
Firearms  introduced  to  Japan,  58 
Fisheries,  216 

Five-power  loan  to  China,  190,  205 
Flower  festivals,  40 
Forestry,  216 
Formosa,  i,  2,  4,  151,  167,  168,  180, 

181,  206 
France,  no,  113,  156,  168,  172,  179, 

190,  196,  197 
Franciscans,  59 
Fudoki,  9 

Fuhkien,  4,  195,  206 
Fujiwara,  38,  39,  40,  43,  44,  45,  48, 

50,  63,  85 
Fujiyama,  28 


INDEX 


233 


G 

Gautama  Buddha,  21,  22,  29 

Gempei  era,  45 

Genro,  see  Elder  Statesmen. 

Genro-in,  133 

"  Gentlemen's  agreement,"  203,  204 

Germany,  i68,  190,  191,  196,  197, 

206;  influence  of  in  Japan,  124, 

130,  137,  138,  156 
Gnosticism,  37 
God  of  Force,  see  Susanoo. 
God  of  Moon,  10 
Go-Daigo,  54,  55 
Gold,  73 
Go-Toba,  50 

Great  Britain,  see  England. 
Greek  influence,  29 
Guilds,  16,  83 

H 

Hachiman,  15 

Hakodate,  109 

Han  dynasty,  10,  23,  24,  28,  29 

Han  River,  193 

Hankow,  193 

Hanyang,  193 

Han-yeh-ping  Company,  193,  194 

Hara-kiri,  see  Suicide. 

Harriman,  E.  H.,  187,  205 

Harris,  Townsend,  109 

Hawaii,  201,  203,  205-207 

Hei-an  Epoch,  32 

Hemp,  16 

Hidetada,  67,  70,  71 

Hideyori,  65,  66 

Hideyoshi,  61-65,  66,  85,  151 

Hinayana,  22,  26 

Hi-nin,  123 

Hiogo,  114,  "5 

Hiragana,  37 

Hishigawa  Moronobu,  92 

Historiography,  76,  77 

Hiyeisan,  57,  62 


Hizen,  117,  127 
Hojo,  50-55 
Hokkaido,  see  Yezo. 
Holland,  see  Dutch. 
Hondo,  I,  15 
Honshiu,  see  Hondo. 


Idaho,  203 

Iki,  152 

Immigration,  of  Japanese  to  United 

States,  201-204 
Imperialism,  149 
Incense  burning,  60,  94 
India,  56,  70,  105,  106,  216 
Indo-European  blood  in  Japan,  14 
Industrial  revolution,  105 
Inland  Sea,  2,  3 
Inlay,  93 
Inouye,  127,  135 
Insurance  companies,  216 
Iron,  201,  217,  218 
Irrigation,  16 
Ishii,  208 

Itagaki,  127,  132,  135,  136,  143,  212 
Ito,  125, 127, 135, 137, 138, 139,  i43f 

145,  146,  182,  183,  187,  212,  213 
Iwakura,  127 
lyemitsu,  67,  70,  71 
lyeyasu,  61,  62,  65-71,  81,  104 
Izanagi,  10 
Izanami,  10 
Izumo,  10,  14 

J 

Japanese  language,  27,  28 
Jesuits,  59,  60,  71 
Jimmu  Tenno,  11,  14,  86 
Jingo,  15 
Jito,  48 

Jiyuto,  see  Liberal  Party. 
Jodo,  51 
Judiciary,  142 


234 


INDEX 


K 


Kagoshima,  bombarded  by  the  Eng- 
lish, 113 

Kaishnnto,  see  Liberal  Conserva- 
tives. 

Kamakura,  50,  53-56 

Kamatari,  38,  40 

Kamchatka,  i 

Kano  Motonobu,  see  Motonobu. 

Kano  school  of  painting,  92 

Karafuto,  see  Sakhalin. 

Karma,  98 

Katagana,  37 

Katsura,  213 

Kenseito,  212 

Kiao  Chau,  171,  iqi,  192 

Kido,  127,  131 

Kirin,  193 

Kiushiu,  I,  2,  4,  II,  13, 15,  46,  63,  70 

Kiyomori,  45,  46 

Knox,  P.  C,  187,  188,  205 

Kobe,  46 

Kobo  Daishi,  37 

K^ogisho,  131 

Kojiki,  9,  14,  20 

Kokuminto,  214 

Komei,  116 

Korea,  2,  4,  5,  6,  12,  15,  19,  20,  23, 
25.  29,  30,  64,  83,  128,  132,  149, 
151-153,  164-167,  170,  173.  17s, 
176,  181-184,  199 

Kotoku,  31 

Kublai  Khan,  53,  58 

Kudara,  24 

Kukai,  37 

Kumaso,  13 

Kurile  Islands,  i,  12,  107,  149,  150 

Kuro  Shiwo,  see  Black  Current. 

Kusonoki  Masashige,  55 

Kwambaku,  39 

Kwammu,  39 

Kwan-Cheng-Tze,  176 


Kyoto,  32,  39,  40,  42,  43,  44,  46,  50, 
52,  53,  55,  56,  57,  59,  60,  64,  65, 
69,  III,  112 


Labor  Unions,  221 

Lacquer,  93 

Landscape  gardening,  60,  93 

Lansing-Ishii  Agreement,  208 

Laotze,  28 

Law,  16;  reorganization  of,  124,  155 

Liaotung  Peninsula,  167,  168,  169, 

171 
Liberal  Conservatives,  136,  143-145 
Liberal  Party,  135, 143-146,  211,  212 
Li  Hung  Ch'ang,  168 
Literature,  29,  94 
Li  Yuan  Hung,  197 
Local  assemblies,  134 
Loyalty,  loi 

M 

Mahayana,  22,  26 

Main  Island,  see  Hondo. 

Malay  elements  in  Japanese  blood, 

4,  5,  13,  14 
Malay  Peninsula,  i 
Manchu  Dynasty,  197 
Manchu-Korean  stock,  14 
Manchuria,  6,  7,  167,  170-177,  185- 

188 
Manchuria,  Southern,  2 
Manichaeism,  22,  23 
Marco  Polo,  58 
Marriage,  95 
Matriarchy,  15 
Meicho,  92 

Meiji  Era,  defined,  118 
Meiji  Tenno,  116,  215 
Mencius,  19,  28,  loi 
Mexico,  70,  156,  203,  207 
Military  class  of  old  Japan  and  its 

ideals,  80-84 


i 


INDEX 


235 


Military  conscription,  34 

Minamoto,  44-49,  54,  62,  63 

Ming  dynasty,  75,  78 

Mirror  of  Sun  Goddess,  10 

Mitsui  and  Company,  217 

Miura,  170 

Mommu,  32 

Money,  30 

Mongolia,  6 

Mongolia,   Eastern  Inner,    2,    192, 

193,  195 
Mongol  invasion,  53,  54 
Mongols,  3,  14,  58,  86 
Monroe  Doctrine,  the  Japanese,  5 
"Morrison,"  107 
Motonobu,  61,  92 
Mukden,  167,  175 
Muromachi  period,  55 
Music,  41 

N 

Nagasaki,  2,  3,  73,  106,  108,  109 

Nanking,  Treaty  of,  106 

Napoleonic  wars,  105,  107 

Nara,  32,  39,  40 

Nationalist  Party,  214 

Nestorians,  22 

Newspapers,  134,  137,  161 

Nichiren,  52 

Nihongi,  9,  14,  29 

Nihonshogi,  9 

Nikko,  93 

Ningpo,  56,  58 

Ninigi,  10,  11 

Nirvana,  21 

Nitta  Yoshisada,  55 

Nobility,  reorganized  by  Ito,  138 

Nobunaga,  61  ^  6a 

O 

Oda,  Nobunaga,  see  Nobunaga. 
Okubo,  127,  128,  134 


Okuma,  127,  136,  143,  192,  212,  214 

Okyo,  92 

Ojin,  IS 

"Open  door"  in  China,  205 

Oregon,  106,  203 

Origin  of  Japanese,  12-14 

Osaka,  61,  64,  65,  114,  215,  217 

Osaka  Conference,  133 

Ownership  of  land,  35 

R 

Railways,  159;  nationalized,  215 

Religion,  primitive,  17,  18 

Restoration,  11 5-1 20 

Rice,  15,  181 

Rikken  Teiseito,  136 

Riu  Kiu  Islands,  2,  4,  107,  149-151 

Ronin,  81 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  176,  203 

Root-Takahira  Agreement,  179 

Rousseau,  132,  136 

Russia,  4,  105,  106,  107,  109,  no, 

152,  165,  168-179,  185,  196,  200, 

205,  216 
Russo-Chinese  Bank,  171 
Russo-Japanese  War,  175-177,  200 


Saicho,  37 

Saionji,  213 

Saigo,  127-129,  152 

Sakhalin,  i,  4,  5,  107,  149,  150,  184, 

185 

Salt  monopoly  in  China,  190 

Samurai,  77,  86;  end  of  the  institu- 
tion of,  123 

San  Francisco  school  question,  203 

San  jo,  40,  127 

Sat-Cho  group,  136,  210-214 

Satsuma,  104,  in,  113,  117,  127, 
169,  210 

Satsuma  revolt,  128,  129 

Sculpture,  53,  93 


236 


INDEX 


Sea  of  Japan,  battle  of  the,  175 

Sei-i-tai-shogim,  see  Shogun. 

Seiyiikai,  212,  213 

Sekigahara,  battle  of,  65 

Seoul,  166,  17s,  181 

Seppuku,  see  Suicide. 

Serfs,  16 

Sesshu,  61,  92 

Shanghai,  56 

Shantung,  171,  192,  206 

Shikken,  50 

Shikoku,  I,  II,  15 

Shimabara  revolt,  72 

Shimoda,  109 

Shimonoseki,  2,  46,  113,  114;  treaty 

of,  168 
Shingon,  36,  37,  51,  52 
Shinshu,  51 
Shinto,  18,  44,  59,  77,  96-98,  221;  in 

Meiji  era,  126 
Shipping,  217 
Shirakawa,  40 
Shogun,  49,  80 
Shogunate,  67 
Sho  Shi,  see  Chu  Hsi. 
Shotoku,  Prince,  25,  31 
Shotoku,  Empress,  41 
Shugo,  48 
Siam,  56,  70 
Si-an-fu,  23,  25,  32,  34 
Siberia,  5,  6 

Siberian  Railway,  170,  187 
Silk,  16,  73,  201 
Silver,  30 
Slavery,  16 
Social  evil,  221 
Socialism,  221 
Soga,  24,  25,  33 
Soochow,  56 
South  America,  217 
Spanish,  contact  with  Japan,  59,  64, 

70,  71,  72,  IDS 
Standard  Oil  Company,  206 


State  initiative  and  control,  88 

Steamships,  159 

Sugar,  181 

Sui  dynasty,  23 

Suicide,  86,  102 

Sulphur,  217 

Sun  Goddess,  see  Amaterasu. 

Sung  dynasty,  61 

Susanoo,  10 

Swords  and  sword-makers,  53,  61 


Taiko,  63,  64 

Taira,  44-49 

Taisho,  215 

Takauji,  see  Ashikaga  Takauji. 

Talien,  167 

Tang  dynasty,  23,  24,  25,  29,  31,  36 

Taoism,  19,  28 

Tariff,  109,  149 

Taxation,  35,  41 

Tea,  53,  181,  201 

Tea-drinking,  94 

Tendai,  36,  51,  52 

Terauchi,  199,  214 

Tokimasa,  50 

Tokugawa,  family  and  shogunate, 

67-79,  86,  89,  92,  100;  decline  of, 

104,  IDS,  112-115 
Tokugawa  lyeyasu,  see  lyesasu. 
,Tokyo  (Yedo),  11,  50,  67,  87,  104, 
!    107,  119, 128, 168,  216,  217 
Tosa,  117, 127;  school  of  painting,  92 
Toyotomi  Hideyoshi,  see  Hideyoshi. 
Tsingtao,  171,  192 
Tsugaru  Strait,  152 
Tsushima,  152,  175 

U 

United  States,  87, 105-110, 113, 114, 

155,  156,  158,  173,  190.  191,  197. 
200-209 
Ussuri  River,  152,  165,  170 


INDEX 


237 


Vasco  da  Gama,  58 
Vladivostok,  152,  165,  170,  200 

W 
Wang  Yang  Ming,  76 
War,      Chino-Japanese,      167-169; 

Russo-Japanese,  175-177,  200;  of 

1914,  5,  191-197 
Warrior  Class,  its  rise,  43,  44 
Washington  (state  of),  203 
Wei-hai-wei,  167,  172 
Whaling,  107 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  191,  203,  205 
Woman,  position  of,  96,  102 
Wrestling,  61 

X 

Xavier,  Francis,  59 


Yamato,  11,  13,  14,  15,  17-19,  24, 

32,55 
Yamato-dake,  ii 
Yangtze  River,  i68,  172,  189,  195, 

217 
Yedo,  see  Tokyo. 
Yemishi,  12 

Yezo,  I,  2,  12,  149,  150,  216 
Yokohama,  3,  159 
Yokohama  Specie  Bank,  158,  188 
Yoritomo,  45-50,  56,  67 
Yoshihito,  215 
Yoshinaka,  46 
Yoshitoki,  50 
Yoshitomo,  45 
Yoshitsune,  45-47 
Yuan  Shih  K'ai,  190,  196 


Yamagata,  127,  212 
Yamamoto,  213 


Zen,  52,  53,  60,  76, 102 
Zinc,  217 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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